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THE WOOLLY HORSE 



BY 

ALEXANDER S, BACON 

OF THE NEW YORK BAR 

Attthor of **Thc Illegal Trial of Chtist," ** Masonic 
Nobility,^ Etc. 



NEW YORK 

37 LIBERTY STREET 

1909 

PRICE ONE DOLLAR 









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(rorsM) 

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'Magna est Veritas et praevalehif 
but it sometimes hurts. 



V 1 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Preface 7 

I. Panama : A Revelry in Crime 9 

The Swindle of the Centuries. 

II. Is Our Army Degenerate ? 39 

A Stone Mason on an Architect's Job. 

III. The Woolly Horse. 56 

Some Modern Mihtary Fakes. 

IV. The Lone Horseman of San Juan ; . . 83 

Is Lying for Gain Sinful? 

V. The Slaughter of Dream Elks 94 

Is Lying for Self- Adulation Amusing? 

VI. Imperialism 98 

Do Republics Die Young? 

VII. How TO Create a Panic 109 

"Ready Cash" as a Public Menace. 

VIII. Russia vs. Japan 119 

(a) Fairplay to Russia 119 

(b) How America Paid the Indemnity 130 

IX. "Our Flag" 139 



PREFACE. 

Many facts contained in this volume are not palatable ; they 
hurt our vanity ; but bitter medicine is often necessary, though 
one hates the doctor who gives it. 

The Panama story is startling and humiliating. The finan- 
cial and political interests behind the gigantic swindle are so 
potent that publicity through ordinary channels is impossi- 
ble. Hence this book. The writer visited Paris in the Sum- 
mer of 1908 for the purpose of investigating the Panama 
Scandal, and speaks with knowledge. 

Congress does not dare investigate, and if it should be 
spurred into a pretended investigation, another Committee, 
with a majority hostile to the inquiry, would probaly re-enact 
the travesty of 1906, when Senator Morgan, vainly tried to 
get Mr. Cromwell to answer any important question, during 
days of examination, other than "I decline to answer," on the 
ground that he was attorney for everybody in interest, includ- 
ing himself. The Committee sustained him in his frivolous and 
insulting conduct, until Senator Morgan obtained a resolu- 
tion of the Senate directing Mr. Cromwell to answer. 
Whereupon Mr. Cromwell sailed for Europe, and Sen- 
ator Morgan, having been taken sick and having died, the 
matter was dropped; and yet Mr. Cromwell, in a recent inter- 
view, stated: "All this * * * was thrashed out before 
the United States Senate Committee by the late Senator Mor- 
gan. * * * It was pursued with unparalleled energy and 
skill. It was, however, completely exploded and refuted by 
the facts in the case, and ended in complete discomfiture." 

Requests for the re-publication of "The Woolly Horse," 
long since out of print, have been persistent. This great 
Republic is becoming great enough to listen to the truth and 



8 PREFACE 

learn lessons from the actual facts of history. If a young, 
scientific officer had been put in command of the Army of In- 
vasion of Cuba, not ten men would have been killed, and the 
Army maneuvers would have been as skillful and scientific as 
the Navy's. 

The other articles contain some facts learned by an active 
practitioner in New York, and general knowledge of them 
ought to better our financial, economic and moral conditions. 
The light of truth can do no harm. 

Republics have not always heeded their warnings, but 
have rushed blindly on to despotism. We believe, however, 
that Americans have enough innate good sense and patriot- 
ism to correct hurtful tendencies and return to the early vir- 
tues of the Republic. When they correctly diagnose a politi- 
cal disease, they will apply the corrective, and will thus pre- 
serve the same blessings of liberty in the strength of 
national manhood that were enjoyed in the weakness 
of national youth. Imitation is the sincerest form of 
flattery, and if we so purify our laws, and so honestly 
execute them, that we are worthy of imitation, the 
whole world should follow our example and become 
republics, consecrated to liberty, equality, fraternity and peace. 
To reach this "consummation devoutly to be wished," we must 
know the actual facts of history, not a press agent's account 
of his own imaginary achievements. 

February 15, 1909. 

Alexander S. Bacon. 
37 Liberty Street, New York. 



PANAMA; A REVELRY IN CRIME. 

The Panama swindle illustrates the salient and dominant 
characteristics of this age. Mammon reigns ; Mars is de- 
throned ; Mercury is prime minister. The God of War is 
servant to the God of Greed, and the God of Cheats and Swind- 
lers rules them both. One generation ago, the great men were 
the Warriors, Statesmen, Poets, and members of the Learned 
Professions ; now — within the last twenty-five years — all these 
have become servants to the Tainted Check Book. Politics is 
syndicated, and lobbyists unnecessary, for the Great Men of 
this generation own legislatures, and exalt their lobbyists into 
honorable Senators. 

"Get money ; honestly, if you can, but get money." Great 
corporations and even great nations enter the lists in a 
scramble to swindle. The public conscience is dulled by the 
example of The Great, and "Dere'r a Kleptomania feelin' in de 
air." Crimes of brutality are on the decrease, and the world 
grows better; but crimes of cunning are universal, and 
nations are controlled by the Predatory Rich. The distinctive 
crimes of this generation are crimes of subtlety and finesse, and 
behind every widespread swindle that extracts millions from 
the unwary poor, you will find a string of banks, and even 
governments. Mammon reigns, and Mercury is his Warwick. 

Panama, the greatest scandal of the nineteenth and twen- 
tieth centuries, presents features that are startling and not 
generally known; it involves not only statesmen, newspapers, 
banks, and ordinary confidence men, but the two great Re- 
publics as well; the American end of the scandal is as dis- 
graceful as the French ; the swindled victims are not only the 
confiding poor, but a confiding nation ; and the active agent 



10 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

who planned the international shame has grown fat and power- 
ful in cunning and openly boasts of his power and influence 
at Washington. 

Recent discoveries have revealed the fact that the Panama 
Canal is the most gigantic fraud of the centuries. Its whole 
history, past and present, is a revelry in crime ; robbing the 
peasantry of France to enrich, first, a few French swindlers, 
and later, an American Syndicate of Wall Street gamblers ; 
strevv'ing France with wrecks and suicides ; staining the soil of 
Colombia with the blood of tens of thousands in revolutions 
fomented in Paris, New York and Washington; robbing the 
French and cheating the American people ; all for the "Al- 
mighty dollar" in the scramble for which the two great Re- 
publics have violated almost every law, human and divine ; 
and the man who planned and executed the scheme and sold 
a gold brick to the U. S. has erected for himself a pedestal 
to stand upon and demands the homage of greatness. 

Count De Lesseps. 

It is now known that the Suez Canal was conceived and 
executed in iniquity. As an engineering problem it was 
simple, but its construction was honeycombed with graft. How- 
ever, success is a mantle that covers a multitude of sins. It 
gave De Lesseps honor, fame and wealth ; he was proclaimed 
"the engineering genius of the world," "the greatest French- 
man." As a matter of fact, he was a promoter rather than an 
engineer, and he died a convicted criminal. Some think that 
De Lesseps was inherently dishonest, but most Frenchmen 
still look upon him as "The Grand Old Man" and say that, in 
his downfall, he was old and confiding, and that designing 
swindlers gained and abused his confidence, and deceived him 
while robbing the people on a scale hitherto unknown. The 
amounts involved in the Panama swindles are gigantic : the 
scandals nearly wrecked the French Government, and the re- 



PANAMA; A REVELRY IN CRIME II 

suits were more disastrous than war ; yet the great criminals 
go unpunished, and reap substantial profits, by cunning 
manipulations of their New York attorney, even after their 
conviction in the French courts, turning fines into 29 per cent, 
profits. It is a marvelous story. 

After Suez, De Lesseps sought other worlds to conquer, 
and a trans-Isthmian canal was the next natural enterprise for 
exploitation. The indorsement of the Panama route by 
the great De Lesseps was enough to silence all argument. He 
had given the Colon-Panama route an examination so trifling 
that it could not even be called superficial. He made a dog- 
matic proclamation, and no one dared reply : The new sea level 
canal would cost $120,000,000, and be finished by 1890. A 
twelve years' concession was obtained from Colombia in 1878. 
A company was formed in 1880 with the very small capital 
of 300,000,000 francs ($60,000,000), and this was eagerly taken 
up by the peasantry. The rich knew better. Two or three 
shares were the average number held by each stockholder. 
Bond issues followed each other in quick succession. These, 
too, were taken by farmers, janitors and small shop keepers, 
from their little savings, and the average bond holdings were 
small. 

The French Swindlers. 

Substantially every statement in preliminary prospectuses 
was knowingly false, and every franc was obtained in cir- 
cumstances of false representations that amounted to larceny. 
The canal was started with much pretence, and a revelry of 
criminal extravagance began, unequalled in history. 

The criminal waste at Colon can never be appreciated by 
those who have not seen it with their own eyes. The writer 
viewed the wreckage of this enterprise in 1898. Along the 
line of the railroad, out from Colon, were miles — literally miles 
— of permanent sheds, filled with expensive machinery, car 
trucks, etc., never used, yet rusted and worthless. If a loco- 



12 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

motive jumped the track, no effort was made to put it back; 
a new one took its place. Several steamboats were conveyed 
by rail to the center of the isthmus and securely anchored on 
dry land, miles from water, on the site of an artificial lake, not 
yet built. These steamers, for years, outrode the gales of their 
mountain fastness, and were melancholy monuments of crime. 
It is needless to say that substantially all Canal purchases 
were attended with criminal rebates, false vouchers and fictiti- 
ous values. The purpose of the plunderers was fully expressed 
in a toast at a dinner in Paris: "Here's to the Panama Canal; 
"may it ever be building and never be built." 

Of course, the end came. New funds must be raised. The 
last bond issue had failed. Heroic measures were necessary to 
secure the passage of a bill authorizing a bond issue by lottery. 
The French are nothing if not spectacular, and one of the most 
startling climaxes in French history was seen in the Chamber 
of Deputies, when one member arose in his place and flaunted 
in the faces of his brethren a list of i6i members who had 
accepted bribes to vote for the lottery. Baron Reinach, the 
Company's lobbyist, committed suicide. A list of Paris and 
London newspapers that had received the Baron's checks in 
payment for influence, was published with the exact amounts 
received. The bubble had burst and criminal proceedings be- 
gan. De Lesseps and many of his confederates were convicted 
and punished. 

One curious part of the canal scheme was the early appoint- 
ment of an American Committee, consisting of Drexel, Mor- 
gan & Co., Seligman & Co., and Winslow, Lanier & Co. (See 
Proceedings of Senate Sub-Committee, 1902, pages 201, 202) 
to whom about $2,400,000 was paid for no known return. It 
was a part of the general scheme to buy influence and make 
the common people think that great financial houses were be- 
hind the enterprise. This Committee had no direct relation, 
however, with the American syndicate formed later, in No- 
vember, 1899. 



PANAMA; A REVELRY IN CRIME I3 

In 1889, all work on the canal and all interest on securi- 
ties were suspended, and a receiver, or liquidator, was ap- 
pointed by the French courts. He estimated in 1890, that it 
would cost $600,000,000 to complete a sea level canal. The 
obligations of the Company, substantially all of which were 
held by the French peasantry, consisted of $60,000,000 in 
stock and about $200,000,000 in bonds. If interest be added, 
the figures are still more stupendous. Probably about 
$200,000,000 of this sum was criminal waste or pure theft, by 
means of false vouchers, secret rebates, padded contracts and 
other well-known Tweed methods ; at least, there was, in 
1889, little to show for the money. 

The revelation of the Panama scandals, and the consequent 
suicides and panics, nearly wrecked the French government. 
The losses permeated every hamlet in France. The poor suf- 
fered ; the rich grew richer. It was found that among the 
offenders were Eiffel, the famous engineer, a man of great 
wealth, and wearer of the Cross of the Legion of 
Honor; De Lesseps, and his son, six banks and two 
newspapers. Among the banks were the Credit Lyonnais, 
doing the largest banking business in the world, and the 
Societe Generale, next to the Credit Lyonnais, the largest bank 
in France ; one bank was American ; the principal owners of 
"Le Matin" and "Le Journal," among the most influential 
newspapers of Paris, besides statesmen, contractors and com- 
mon swindlers, were on the roll of dishonor and appear on the 
list of the "penalized." 

While public wrath was at a white heat, a "proxy" for the 
bondholders was appointed by special law of July i, 1893. M. 
Lemarquis was named and, as stated by M. Lucien Napoleon 
Bonaparte Wyse, the original concessionaire of the Canal, the 
law said to M. Lemarquis : 

"We entrust to you the interests and fortunes of all 
"the poor people who have put their last cent in the 
"Panama affair; defend them and protect their rights, 



14 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

"and, especially, make disgorge all those who have 
"swindled the Panama Company." 

He appears to have been faithful to his trust for a time — 
until, in 1900, American interests took him into camp. He 
then joined the enemies of the people. At first, he pursued 
with energy, both in the civil and criminal couns, all those 
swindlers "who like pirates around a disabled ship, had taken 
"possession of all its booty, and had realized, out of the de- 
"struction of the De Lesseps enterprise, tremendous illicit and 
"scandalous gains." 

Some of these culprits were convicted ; one served five 
years in prison. Some 43 millions of francs were agreed to 
be due from these swindlers, whose crimes were perpetrated 
with the aid of forged vouchers, fictitious contracts and the 
other sleight-o'-hand performances of "respectable" swindlers. 
Forty-three millions of francs was, however, a mere fraction 
of the actual misappropriations. That sum was "owned up to." 

M. Lemarquis, in the first stages of his career as "proxy" 
(later he became liquidator) seems to have conscientiously 
carried out the law of July i, 1893, that created his office, but 
he was immediately confronted with a crisis : — 

The original concession of twelve years had expired in 
1890. A temporary extension had been obtained from 
Colombia until 1894, on condition that a new company should 
be organized to finish the canal. In order that the concession 
might not lapse, and everything thus be lost, it became im- 
perative that a new company should be organized. 

In this year, 1893, Mr. William Nelson Cromwell, became 
the counsel of the old company, or, rather, of its liquidator. He 
was nominally the Counsel of the Panama railroad, substan- 
tially all the stock of which was, however, owned by the Old 
Company, which was now wholly in the hands of the liqui- 
dator; and from that time on Mr. Cromwell's influence was 
paramount, almost exclusive. The gigantic scheme that fol- 



PANAMA; A REVELRY IN CRIME I5 

lowed, which swindled the American people for the benefit of 
his crooked clients, was conceived and carried out while he 
was simultaneously the attorney for the old company, and the 
new company, and later, for the United States and Panama. 
He was top, sides and bottom: the attorney at law, the attor- 
ney in fact, and the active agent that represented all interests. 
This is what happened : 

A new company must be organized to preserve the conces- 
sion. An attempt to get subscriptions for stock failed utterly. 
No one was fool enough to invest a franc. Indeed, very few 
but the peasantry had invested in the old company, the average 
holding of stock in which was only two or three shares, and 
the average holding of bonds but a trifle greater. In the fer- 
vor of patriotic excitement the poor had invested their all, but 
they were not to be deceived again. Panama and every one 
connected with it were in disgrace. 

A Fraudulent Company With "Penalized" Stockholders. 

A company was organized on October 31, 1894, with the 
merely nominal capital of sixty-five million francs, of which 
five million francs ($1,000,000) was to be fully paid and given 
to Colombia in part payment for an extension until 1904. On 
one pretext or another, these shares were not, however, 
delivered to Colombia, although the extension was granted. 
The remaining sixty miUion francs ($12,000,000) was a 
ridiculously low capitalization to build a canal that had already 
cost $260,000,000, and was only just begun. The new Panama 
Company was a patent fraud — a mere skeleton — and the trans- 
parent object of the company was a pretext to satisfy, tech- 
nically, but not honestly, the requirements of Colombia. But 
a subscription for even sixty million francs could not be ob- 
tained. Then a bright idea was conceived and executed : — 

The swindlers who had looted the old company and who 
admitted an indebtedness of forty-three million francs, were 



1 6 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

forced to subscribe for the stock of the new company, with the 
promise that the criminal and civil proceedings against them 
should be dropped. The liquidator took sixteen million francs 
from the cash on hand of the old company, and bought shares 
in the new company. Forty-three millions and sixteen millions 
made fifty-nine million francs, and one million francs 
($200,000) only were what were called "free shares" — all 
taken by people who were interested in the canal. The swind- 
lers were known in France as "penalized stockholders." Their 
shares were kept in the hands of the liquidator, not to be put 
on the market until the stock was full-paid. An assessment 
of 50 per cent, only was called ; a further assessment of 25 
per cent, was called in 1898; the last instalment of 25 per cent. 
was not called till after an American Syndicate had been 
formed, and this call was never used ; it was re-distributed. 

We have here presented as the New Panama Canal Com- 
pany, a mere name, a skeleton without resources adequate for 
anything except a temporary expedient. The stockholders were 
self-confessed swindlers ; that is to say, the new Panama Com- 
pany was itself a fraud, without adequate resources, two-thirds 
of its stock was subscribed under duress, and most of its 
directors were either "penalized" stockholders or representa- 
tives of "penalized" banks. 

The liquidator transferred all the assets of the Old Com- 
pany to the New Company, for nothing, except a share in 
remote profits. This included the Panama railroad shares, 
which had cost the Company ninety million francs 
($18,000,000). The agreement between the old and the new 
company was a fraud on its face. If the canal was 
built, the railroad would belong to the New Company for 
nothing ; if it was not built, the New Company was to pay for 
it twenty million francs, or $4,000,000. That is, the only 
valuable asset was turned over to the New Company at less 
than 25 per cent, of its cost. The penalized stockholders could 
have sold out the next day and have recouped all their losses 



PANAMA; A REVELRY IN CRIME ly 

out of this one asset alone. This same railroad, however, when 
turned over to the United States was, according to the pub- 
lished addresses of Mr. Shonts and Mr. Taft, little more than 
two streaks of rust, and of trifling value. 

The American Syndicate. 

In November, 1899, William Nelson Cromwell, attorney 
for both the Old and New Panama Companies, well known in 
New York as a promoter, and as connected with many rail- 
road re-organizations and trust manipulations whereby watered 
stocks inundate the unwary purchaser, organized an American 
Syndicate of Wall Street bankers and speculators to take over 
the Panama interests. The syndicate agreement, dated No- 
vember 21, 1899, provided for a fund of $5,000,000, but it is 
understood that only $3,000,000 was found necessary to be 
called. The agreement gave Mr. Cromwell absolute, unlimited 
and arbitrary power to do what he pleased, and no questions, 
asked ; it is an unique instrument. 

We quote from this agreement, as set forth at page 1147, 
Senate Document No. 401 (1906) : — 

"Mr. William Nelson Cromwell is exclusively empow- 
"ered under the formal agreement with the board of di- 
"rectors of the Compagnie Nouvelle du Canal de Panama 
"(New Panama Canal Company, of France) to effect with 
"an American syndicate the Americanization of the 
"Panama Canal Company under the following basis : — 

>K * >tJ 

"It is also recognized that the unique character of the 
"enterprise, the international interests involved, and the 
"special circumstance of the case, require that plenary 
"discretion and power be possessed by Mr. Cromwell to 
"effect the Americanization of the canal. 

"It is further understood and agreed that Mr. Crom- 
"well may proceed to negotiate, determine, and agree 



l8 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

"upon all plans, terms, agreements, conditions, questions, 
"and details which he may deem necessary and advisable 
"in respect of the purposes herein generally indicated, in- 
"cluding the terms and provisions of all trusts and agree- 
"ments which he may deem advisable to have established 
"or made." * * * 

The syndicate subscription agreement provided for $5,000,- 
000 only, and contained the following : — 

"Referring to the foregoing plan, we, the undersigned, 
"each for himself and not for the other, in consideration 
"of $1, to each of us in hand paid by William Nelson 
"Cromwell, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, 
"and of our mutual subscriptions, do hereby severally sub- 
"scribe for, and do agree with said William Nelson Crom- 
"well to purchase and from him to take * * * 

"It is understood and agreed that this agreement shall 
"not be binding unless subscriptions be made and allotted 
"to the full amount of $5,000,000 ; and that, owing to the 
"special circumstances of the case, and in the interest of 
"all, Mr. Cromwell shall have the right and power to re- 
"ject or to reduce any subscription hereunder at any 
"time before final allotment by him." 

A month later (see Senate Document 401, page 1178) the 
Panama Canal Co. of America was organized under the laws 
of the State of New Jersey, by clerks in Mr. Cromwell's office. 
This corporation was, later, abandoned when the American 
Government was induced to take over the enterprise. At first, 
Mr. Cromwell claimed, in a letter, that they wanted no govern- 
ment aid, but his very disclaimer was a transparent bid for 
government assistance, and that claim was soon abandoned 
and the United States was asked to take over the enterprise. 

Probably no other member of the Syndicate took a direct 
and active part in the remarkable events that followed. This 



PANAMA; A REVELRY IN CRIME I9 

Syndicate contained members, however, whose banking and 
political influences were as powerful in New York and Wash- 
ington as were the penalized banks in Paris. They had their 
attorneys in the United States Senate and Cabinet. In short, 
Mr. Cromwell as autocrat of this Syndicate, and as agent of 
the Old and New Panama Companies, had behind him the 
greatest combination of wealth and political influence ever 
concentrated in one man. 

Panama in Despair. 

Let us now look at the condition of Panama affairs when 
Mr. Cromwell was clothed with these gigantic autocratic 
powers in 1900: 

In the year 1898, during the Spanish War, the marvelous 
journey of the battleship Oregon around Cape Horn awak- 
ened the American people to a lively interest in an inter- 
oceanic canal. This project had been exploited for several 
centuries, but now it was taken up in earnest. The Government 
of the United States had spent millions of dollars in elaborate 
surveys of the Nicaragua route, and commission after com- 
mission of engineers had recommended it as preferable to the 
Panama route. It is a shorter route by about 800 miles be- 
tween New York and San Francisco, and is largely by way 
of a beautiful river and lake, that would become one of the 
most fascinating tourist routes in the world ; its fresh water 
would clear sea-going vessels of barnacles, and it would 
develop a wide area of beautiful and healthful country. The 
fevers and doldrums of Panama are unknown in Nicaragua 
and this cheaper route has no unsolved engineering problems 
that so sadly perplex the engineers of the Panama route. 

In the early part of the year 1900, Panama affairs were in 
despair. The Old Company had been in the hands of a receiver 
for eleven years ; stockholders and bondholders had almost 
forgotten their small holdings or had marked them off to profit 
and loss ; the New Company had but 75 per cent, of its stock 



20 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

paid in, and it could do no substantial work on the canal. 
Nicaragua only was mentioned. The people of America 
were so incensed at the story of Panama crime that its very 
name became a by-word and a hissing, and no man would be 
rash enough to suggest any route for the American Govern- 
ment except the Nicaraguan, and Nicaragua and Costa Rica 
were willing to give concessions in perpetuity, with grants of 
lands that would far more than repay the entire cost of con- 
struction, while the lands bordering the Panama Canal would 
always be of little value to any one. This public sentiment in 
the United States, and the Panama revelry in crime, so de- 
pressed all Panama securities, that it is fair to say that they 
had substantially no value at all. Everybody in France, too, 
was despondent ; the very name of Panama would be met with 
a sneer ; the revelations of incompetence and crime were multi- 
plying, and the American Congress was spending millions in 
surveying the Nicaragua route ; every conceivable disaster 
and disgrace at home and abroad tended to reduce the value 
of Panama securities. 

The story of the Panama scandals was magnified. The 
American Syndicate and their Parisian allies were also "bear- 
ing" the market. The stock of the Old Company had long 
since ceased to be quoted — it was worthless, and its bonds were 
selling at about 3 per cent, of their par value. About $3,000,000 
would have bought up the entire issues. Indeed, a Paris 
broker offered for sale in New York the entire interests of 
both Canal Companies for $6,500,000, but there were no 
takers. Knowledge of this fact was conveyed to President 
Roosevelt by letter, but this letter was acknowledged and 
ignored. It was written to the President by a well-known 
citizen of New York, and was dated September 9, 1903, 
— before our Panama revolution of November 3, 1903, and 
the Bill of Sale of the Canal of April 16, 1904. 

The following quotation is taken from this letter to the 
President : — 



PANAMA; A REVELRY IN CRIME 



21 



"Just one word as to the price— $40,000,000. It may 
"interest you to know that about the year 1896 or 1897 I 
"was offered by a reputable broker of Paris, of good 
"standing, the control of the Old Panama Company, on 
"a basis of $6,500,000 for their entire property. I refused 
"to consider this offer, as I did not deem that route 
"worthy of consideration. The market quotations in 
"Paris for a number of years for the stock of the Panama 
"Company would indicate that the whole property was 
"regarded as of about that value. * * * 

"I do not care to put in writing information that has 
"come to me in regard to the scandals relating to this 
"whole transaction, but if this project is carried out on 
"the lines now indicated, I am of the opinion that the 
"American Panama scandals will not be widely dissimi- 
"lar from the French ones which amazed and angered 
"France." 

"What is the composition of this New Panama Canal 
"Company that has exercised such a weird and tremendous 
"influence and that to-day seems to have such power? It 
"is composed of Frenchmen and Americans. The Isth- 
"mian Canal Commission, which you appointed, states in 
"reference to the French subscribers as follows: 'The 
"scandals connected with the failure of the old company 
"have led to the prosecution and conviction of De Lesseps 
"and other prominent persons. Suits have been brought 
"against certain loan associations, administrators, con- 
"tractors and others who were supposed to have unduly 
"profited by the extravagances of the old company. A 
"series of compromises was made by these persons, by 
"which it was agreed that they should subscribe for stock 
"in the new company on condition that the suits be 
"dropped.' 

"Who represent the American end of the new Panama 



22 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

"Canal Company? They represent forces who have been 
"called through the years 'the enemies of the Canal.' " 

The Year 1900, 

The year 1900 was the psychological moment for the Syn- 
dicate, just organized. Word was sent to the "penalized 
banks," with their thousands of branches and correspondents 
in the various cities and hamlets of France, to pick up quietly 
the bonds of the Old Panama Company — to buy, not 100 at a 
time, but five or ten, that no suspicion might be aroused. Trans- 
actions on the Exchanges were slight. The quotations were, as 
already stated, almost nothing; 3 per cent, and under. The 
actual purchases from the peasantry of France were probably 
far below the quotations in Paris. Within a few months every 
bond, of which these numerous agencies could get knowledge, 
was picked up, and was held by the banks. For whose benefit 
they were held is an open secret in Paris. The stock of the 
Old Company was not purchased, as it had no value and was 
not quoted on the Exchange. 

In other words, in the year 1900, a large proportion of the 
bonds of the Old Company was in the possession of the penal- 
ized banks — penalized for swindling this very Company. They 
had ceased to be the property of the peasantry. In this same 
year the liquidator was captured, and all parties and interests 
were under control — Mr. Cromwell zvas Panama. He repre- 
sented all interests. 

The stock of the New Company had never been, up to 1900, 
an asset ; it was always a liability. An assessment or 25 per 
cent, remained unpaid. This stock, too, had never been quoted. 
Indeed, all the "penalized" stock was held by the liquidator of 
the Old Company for eight years, and no one would buy the 
few "free" shares because no one would be willing to pay the 
assessment still due. 



panama; a revelry in crime 23 

Unloading on the United States. 

The conspirators then proceeded to unload this enterprise 
on the American people for $40,000,000 — a reasonable profit — 
compared with which the profits of those who were "let in" on 
"Amalgamated Copper" as shown by Mr, Lawson's articles, 
were trifling. The copper patriots bought for $39,000,000 and 
sold out to intimate friends for $75,000,000, a mere profit of 
92 per cent. The Panama syndicate bought for about 
$3,000,000 and sold for $40,000,000, a profit of 1233 per cent, 
Mr. Rockefeller and Mr, Rogers are mere kindergartners. 
When old enough, they should go to school to Mr, Cromwell. 
This was a gross, not net, profit however ; just how much of 
this, say $37,000,000, had to be distributed among Paris con- 
federates and people, high and low in Washington, in order to 
create a proper public sentiment in the Senate, is unknown. 
But this much we do know, that a supplemental report of the 
engineers was obtained, recommending the Panama route, if 
it could be bought for $40,000,000. 

How the price was fixed at forty millions, we do not un- 
derstand. The commission determined that the amount of 
work already done was valued at twenty-one millions. Why 
the remaining nineteen millions were added, we do not know. 
They placed the railroad shares at $7,000,000 ; their cost to the 
new company was $4,000,000. Even the book value of all the 
Company's assets was only $29,000,000, 

The only reason given for this recommendation was that 
its construction would be some five millions cheaper than the 
Nicaragua route. Nevertheless, Congress then passed a bill 
giving ten millions to the Colombian government and forty 
millions to the Panama Company providing Colombia should 
confirm the bargain with a proper treaty, otherwise, the only 
alternative allowed the President was to negotiate with 
Nicaragua and Costa Rica, whose good will was well known. 
This proviso in the bill was expected to be a club v/ith which 
to coerce Colombia. It is evident that it had no other purpose, 



24 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

and that it was the intent of the United States Senate from the 
very beginning to build the Panama Canal or nothing. Thirty- 
seven million dollars profit in sight could not be overlooked. 
You can fool the people, but you can't fool the Senate. They 
didn't want Nicaragua. It had no $40,000,000 to distribute 
"among the peasantry of France." 

Instead of Panama being $5,000,000 cheaper than Nica- 
ragua, the present estimates place it at about $150,000,000 
dearer. To-morrow's estimates can only be guessed. 

No one has ever yet accused William Nelson Cromwell 
of being a fool. He stands first among the shrewd promoters 
of the shrewdest city on earth. His clients, like Harriman and 
Morgan, have not the innocence of childhood. He was never 
known to pay two dollars for a one dollar dog. That he went 
to work, aided by what is known as the powerful "Huntington 
interests," to revolutionize public sentiment — not in the 
United States, but in the United States Senate — from purely 
altruisic motives, to assist the peasants of France, is beyond 
comprehension. You and I could easily have bought up all 
the interests of the Old and New Panama Canal Companies at 
that time, for, probably, three millions of dollars ; he, with his 
Paris banking connections, probably paid less ; yet that is the 
price at which Dame Rumor says that all, or substantially 
all, of the Panama interests of both companies, were purchased 
and concentrated in the hands of a few rich clients. The se- 
curities were worth no more, and if Mr. Cromwell paid more, 
he got cheated, and that is something of which we cannot con- 
ceive. Their value on the Exchanges of Paris is not a subject 
for dispute. It is a matter of record. 

At first the Canal was offered to the United States for one 
hundred million dollars. It had cost the French peasantry at 
least 260 millions, but no one suggested that it had then any 
substantial value. The peasantry had been eliminated. The 
concessions were either lapsed or in dispute. The railroad had 
become substantiallv worthless ; two streaks of rust across the 



PANAMA; A REVELRY IN CRIME 25 

Isthmus, with rolling stock obsolete and deficient. The New 
Company had looked only to railroad dividends, not to repairs. 

In January, 1902, an offer was finally made of forty mil- 
lions of dollars. This was formally accepted in February, 
1903, and nothing remained but to complete the details. This 
acceptance was made by a telegram of Mr. Knox, the At- 
torney General. 

Only one obstacle remained in the way; this was the con- 
sent of Colombia, which Republic not only had a firm contract 
with the Panama Company that it would not sell to any nation, 
under penalty of forfeiture, but it was the absolute owner of 
the land, free and clear of any concession, as the Colombian 
Congress did not approve the scandalous proceeding by means 
of which a repudiated President had extended a lapsed con- 
cession after a refusal so to do by Congress. 

The United States was in the conspiracy and under 
the control of the great bankers who composed the Wall 
Street Syndicate. The statement made in Congress, and 
diligently promulgated to the people, was that the forty mil- 
lions would go to the peasantry of France. It was substan- 
tially admitted that the price was too high, and no one ever 
claimed that the Panama Company had anything to sell except 
an illegal concession, some worthless machinery, a run down 
railroad, and sorrte excavation that was of doubtful utility un- 
der the new proposed construction of the canal. 

The fact is that the American people were sold a gold 
brick. What they bought for forty million dollars was worth- 
less junk, and instead of giving an alms to the peasantry of 
France, they enriched Mr. Cromwell and his Parisian and Wall 
Street Napoleons of Finance. The peasantry of France never 
got a dollar. 

After the United States had contracted to buy the assets of 
the New Canal Company, for the fixed sum of $40,000,000, and 
before actual delivery, the Company sold more railroad bonds 
in its treasury, nominally to obtain money for repairs on the 



26 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

ships owned by it ; and increased the dividends (paid to itself) 
far beyond precedent, and far beyond the net earnings ; so that 
when delivery was actually made, the railroad and other 
assets were reduced in value, the mortgage liens increased, and 
the United States had been defrauded by about $1,000,000. 
Nevertheless, Mr. Cromwell then turned up as attorney for the 
New Company, for an additional claim against the United 
States for $2,200,000 for alleged extra work done on the 
Canal, while this sweating process was going on. 

Mr. Cromwell's Fall and Rise. 

In 1901, Mr. Cromwell's career, like the course of true 
love, did not run smoothly. The New Company was still pre- 
tending to be a Company of Construction. Its President, M. 
Hutin, honestly believed in it, and, observing the conduct of 
Mr. Cromwell, dismissed him as attorney on the ground that 
he ''had every reason to believe that he was not acting faith- 
" fully towards the Company, but that he was favoring other in- 
"terests prejudicial to that enterprise." However, Mr. Crom- 
well was in absolute and undisputed, though secret, control 
through the "penalized" Board of Directors. M. Hutin was 
forced to resign in December, 1901 ; Mr. Cromwell was im- 
mediately re-appointed attorney and M. Bo, director of the 
"penalized" Credit Lyonnais, was elected President. From 
this moment Mr. Cromwell had smooth sailing in France, and 
within a few days the telegraphic offer of $40,000,000 was 
made to the United States. From this time on Mr. Cromwell 
and his Syndicate of Wall Street gamblers, not only owned 
the liquidator of the Old Company and the penalized directors 
of the penalized New Company, but they also controlled the 
United States Navy and the policy of the United States ad- 
ministration, which had entered into the conspiracy that 
swindled the Republic of Colombia and the peasantry of 
France, for the benefit of Mr. Cromwell's clients. 



panama; a revelry in crime 2/ 

Revolutions to Order. 

Confronted by the refusal of Colombia to endorse the 
transfer of the Old Panama concession to the United States, 
there was nothing to do except to create a revolution. This 
ivas done within four days after the Colombian Congress had 
adjourned without confirming the Hay-Herran treaty. A 
revolution had been created before and a hundred thousand 
lives lost for no other purpose than to get an extension of the 
Panama concession. They were now past masters in the Art 
of Revolutions. In order to consummate their wishes, other 
methods must be planned, but this new revolution could be 
carried out only by the assistance of the American Navy. The 
method by which this was accomplished is too recent to need 
explanation. It was absolutely unwarranted by the laws of 
nations ; no one will pretend to defend it on any principles of 
law or justice, the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the 
Mount, International Law or the Constitution or laws of the 
United States. We violated both the laws of God and of man, 
and expressly violated our treaty made with Colombia in 1846. 

The American people, without knowledge of the facts, 
simply said "Colombia is greedy and wants to defraud 'the 
"peasantry of France'." When reading the comedy of "Pana- 
ma," their consciences were dulled by national pride and ambi- 
tion; they did not understand this tragic comedy among 
nations, where the officials of the greatest nation in the world 
organized a revolution in advance, and sent its navy into the 
territory to repel an invasion in a war not yet existing. 

The revolution did not occur until about 6 o'clock p. m. 
on November 3rd, a few hours late, and Washington cabled to 
know what had become of it ; had it been lost ? At 3 40 o'clock 
p. M. on November 3, 1903, the Assistant Secretary of State 
cabled to the United States Consul at Panama, as follows : "We 
are informed there has been an uprising on the Isthmus. Keep 
the Department informed of everything without delay," to 



28 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

which the Consul rephed: "Uprising has not occurred yet; it is 
announced that it will take place this evening." On November 
2nd the Nashville reached Colon, and on the same day the 
following dispatch was sent to the Nashville, the Boston and 
the Dixie : "Prevent landing of any armed forces with hostile 
"intent at any point within fifty miles of Panama. Govern- 
"ment forces reported approaching the isthmus in vessels. Pre- 
"vent landing, if in your judgment landing would precipitate 
"conflict." That dispatch alone is enough for any sane jury. 
Before the revolution was started our navy was instructed to 
prevent Colombia from crushing it, with troops then ap- 
proaching, or thereafter. 

On November 3, General Tobal arrived at Colon with 
about five hundred troops in the steamship Cartagena, "within 
fifty miles of Panama." He was denied the privilege of going 
to Panama on the railroad, with troops. He and his staff 
went alone. On arriving at Panama, they were arrested. That 
was the revolution. Colonel Estovan Huertes, of the Panama 
battalion, who arrested his general, has since been paid $50,000 
by the Congress of Panama, for that heroic act, and General 
Tobal was given $8,000 by the Panama Railroad for the 
privilege of being put in arrest. He and his troops were im- 
mediately sent homie. Truly a remarkable revolution ! And 
the money that paid the price of perfidy ultimately came from 
the ten millions paid to Panama by the United States. 

The Nashville alone, with her great guns, could destroy any 
Colombian force that could be landed at Colon. Indeed, in ten 
minutes she could destroy the city itself. When General Tobal 
was prevented from taking his troops to Panama, he knew 
that the full strength of the great American republic was 
against him, and that resistance was useless. His only safety 
lay in going quietly home and thus preventing the Nashville 
from amusing itself with target practice. 

That order from the Navy Department in Washington to 
the Nashville, on November 2, was an act of war, unauthor- 



PANAMA ; A REVELRY IN CRIME 2g 

ized by Congress, which alone can declare war. What did the 
President care for the Constitution, treaties, or laws of God and 
man; the syndicate wanted that thirty-seven millions. If the 
commander of the Nashville, in carrying out these illegal 
orders, had killed a man, that act would have been murder, 
and the Department's order to the commander would have been 
no defense. (Little vs. Barrene, 2 Cranch, 6 U. S., 170; U. S. 
vs. Buchanan, 8 How, 49 U- S., 83, 10). Just think of our 
President ordering the Nashville to prevent England from 
landing troops within fifty miles of Bermuda, just because he 
had cast greedy eyes on its succulent onions. 

In less than forty-eight hours after this peaceful revolution, 
we acknowledged the belligerency of the Panamans. At that 
time there were no Panama belligerents, no army, no general, 
no corporal, no private, no flag. In ten days we acknowledged 
the independence of the Panama Republic— before there had 
been any convention of the people, any Congress, even any 
Committee appointed, or any action on their part to determine 
whether the Government should be a Republic or a despotism. 
In fifteen days we had negotiated and signed a treaty with this 
new power— before any King, any President, any Congress 
or any Parliament had been chosen. The whole proceeding is 
a transparent farce and the few alleged revolutionists are still 
quarreling over the distribution of the $10,000,000. There 
will be no quarreling in France over the distribution of the 
$40,000,000, for the American syndicate will not permit any 
guilty dollar to escape, no matter in whose name the Panama 
obligations may nominally be held. This Panama revolution 
will come back to haunt us, like Banquo's ghost, in years to 
come, and the only excuse that we can have for transparent 
violations of international law and our solemn treaty obliga- 
tions, preventing Colombia from landing troops within fifty 
miles of her own province, will be that an American syndicate 
and their political partners in Washington were urgently in 
need of forty million dollars. 



30 the woolly horse 

The Treaty of 1846. 

One order sent out by the Secretary of the Navy on No- 
vember 9 seems to have been overlooked : "Upon the arrival 
of the Marblehead, sufficient force must be sent * * * to 
prevent the landing of men with hostile intent within the limits 
of the State of Panama," and on November 11 Secretary Hay 
telegraphed Minister Beaupre at Bogota : "It is not thought 
desirable to permit landing of Colombian troops on the Isth- 
mus, as such a course would precipitate civil war and disturb 
for an indefinite period the free transit which we are pledged 
to protect." 

This was a bare-faced order to the Colombian Government 
not to attempt to reconquer a rebelling province, or to land 
troops anywhere within an area as large as the State of Indiana. 
Mr. Hay had evidently overlooked Mr. Seward's letter to our 
Minister at Bogota, dated April 30, 1866: 

"The United States desires nothing else, nothing better, 
"and nothing more in regard to the State of Colombia than 
"the enjoyment on their part of complete and absolute 
"sovereignty and independence. If those great interests 
"shall ever be assailed by any poiver at home or abroad, 
"the United States zvill be ready, co-operating zvith the 
"Government and their ally, to maintain and defend them." 

Mr. Roosevelt seems not only to have overlooked that part 
of the treaty of 1846 which guarantees to New Grenada (now 
Colombia) the "rights and property which New Grenada has 
and possesses over the said territory," but also section 4, which 
provides that "if any one or more of the citizens of either 
party shall infringe any of the articles of this treaty, such citi- 
zen shall be held personally responsible for the same, and the 
harmony and good correspondence between the two nations 
shall not be interrupted thereby ; each party engaging in no 
way to protect the oifender, or sanction such violation." 



PANAMA; A REVELRY IN CRIME 3I 

In Other words, the President and Secretary Hay ran 
rough-shod through this treaty, simply because Colombia was 
weak and we were strong, and Colombia had property that 
she was not willing to sell to us at the price offered. 

Besides, the pretext that the guaranty of the neutrality of 
the Isthmus by the United States was equivalent to preventing 
the Colombian Government from reconquering a rebellious 
province is an insult to Judgment. Under the treaty of 1846, 
the United States guaranteed the possession of the Isthmus to 
Colombia, not to any rebels, and it was the duty of Colombia, 
not the United States, to keep the traffic unobstructed. What- 
ever excuses we may advance for our treatment of Colombia, 
our action was that of a bully who despoils a small boy of his 
apple because his price does not suit. 

Bunau-Varilla. 

A distinctive figure in this tragic comedy is M. Bunau- 
Varilla, Mr, Cromwell's most active lieutenant in Paris. 
Maurice Jules Varillat was born in 1856, the son of a small 
merchant. Having become a broker and having aristocratic 
aspirations, he changed his name on June 4, 1884, by a court 
order, to Bunau-Varilla. He had a brother who was an en- 
gineer on the canal. The young Napoleon got "next to" 
Baron Jacques de Reinach, the Canal Corruptionist. A German 
and a Frenchman had been doing some honest canal con- 
tracting in a small way. They took the Bunau-Varilla brothers 
into a small corporation. Immediately, the contracts of this 
new company were raised enormously in amount, and padded 
in price. It was the usual swindle, and Bunau-Varilla made 
a quick fortune. When the crash came, and the light was let 
in on the scandals by a parliamentary enquiry, the broker fled 
to London. Seeing criminal prosecutions staring him in the 
face, he pursued the usual course : 

He bought a controlling interest in a daily journal, "Le 
Matin," for the express purpose of making himself so power- 



32 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

ful politically that no one would dare to attack him criminally. 
The newspapers of Paris control the government. 

The swindling character of his operations, as set forth 
in the published reports to the French Parliament, were not 
denied. He simply bluffed it out, and finally came home, 
when prosecutions against him were dropped upon his be- 
coming a "penalized" stockholder in the New Company, in the 
amount of ii,ooo shares. To quote from a very recent book 
entitled "Blufif for the purpose of Blackmail," describing ex- 
ploits of "Le Matin," the writer says : 

"On the day when France was in mourning for its four- 
"teen hundred millions, when there were thousands of wrecked 
"fortunes and suicides, Maurice Bunau-Varilla was able again 
"to divide with his patriotic associates, the German and the 
"deserter, the last balance of a dozen millions. He had not 
"attained the proprietorship of 'Le Matin' to become a public 
"benefactor." 

He came to New York and Washington on his way to 
Panama, as director of a personally conducted revolution, and 
becomes the Panama Minister to Washington to negotiate a 
treaty on behalf of the new nation before it had a Congress, an 
Executive, army, or flag. No wonder that the treaty was 
speedy, when Mr. Cromwell's lieutenant in the Cabinet was on 
one side and Mr. Cromwell's lieutenant among his swindling 
French clients — although a French subject — represented Pana- 
ma. No wonder that the day following the payment of 
$40,000,000 to J. P. Morgan & Co., on May 4, 1904, J. P. 
Morgan & Co. gave a check to the order of Maurice Bunau- 
Varilla for 510,000 francs. 

The Concessions. 

The treatment of Colombia by the New Panama Company 
and the Republics of France and the United States has been 
dishonest and brutal. The first concessions, 1878-1890, and 
the temporary concession to 1894, were negotiated by Mr. 



PANAMA; A REVELRY IN CRIME 33 

Bonaparte Wyse, the original concessionaire, and were honest. 
He was an enthusiastic believer in the canal, a man of 
substance and many honors. In the same connection must 
be mentioned the name of M. Maurice Hutin, the President of 
the New Panama Company from 1897 to 1901. These two 
men, honored by all, stand out in marked contrast with the 
dark background of French and American corruption 

The concession from 1894 to 1904 was obtained under false 
and fraudulent pretences in that the New Company promised 
to deliver 50,000 shares of its stock in part consideration for 
this extension, but did not do so. On one pretext or another, 
these shares were retained by the Company, the Republic of 
France even, at one time, claiming a lien on them for taxes, 
exceeding the par value of the stock. After some years the 
new Republic of Panama claimed them. 

Long after the distribution of most of the money obtained 
from the United States, to wit, on December 23, 1907, the 
Republics of Panama and France gave way and a sop was 
thrown to Colombia by a nominal delivery of this stock and 
payment of its distributive share, after France had deducted 
over a million and a half of francs (more than 22 per cent.) 
as a tax. The whole proceeding was disgraceful, and a final 
settlement was had only after Colombia had been hopelessly 
dispoiled of its territory and its new President had transparently 
become an ally of the abhorrent forces that had plundered it. 

In 1899, a further extension from 1904 to 19 10 was sought 
but the Colombian Congress refused to pass the bill for the ex- 
tension. The reasons for this were emphatic : 

The stock to be given in part payment for the last conces- 
sion had not been delivered. Only 75 per cent, of the trifling 
capital of the New Company had been paid in. The Company 
was notoriously controlled by confessed swindlers, had no- 
means of building the canal, and was a mere name or skeleton 
devised to preserve the concession for purely speculative pur- 
poses. 



34 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

Of course, the Colombian Congress defeated the bill. 

Of course, the French adventurers obtained by bribery a 
so-called extension from the President, which everybody knew 
to be worthless, and the transparent, conflicting pretexts for 
this ridiculous concession are unworthy of a moment's con- 
sideration. 

This extension was granted by President Sanclemente on 
the pretext that the country was in a "state of siege" in 1900, 
— a siege promulgated by himself — and, therefore, he was 
warranted in making an extension to the canal concession from 
1904 to 1910. That is to say: Exercising an alleged "emerg- 
ency" power, the President, in 1900, extended a concession for 
six years that did not terminate till four years after the 
"emergency." A revolution soon cut short his career of brib- 
ery, and his term of four years finished at the end of the second 
year. This canal extension was the cause of his being deposed. 
The Colombian Congress had already repudiated him. By the 
aid of the American Navy, Marroquin was made President. 

The original concession, several times specifically ratified, 
contained a clause which prohibited the Panama Company 
from selling out to any government. That clause could be 
abrogated only by the Colombian Congress, and such abroga- 
tion was contained in the Hay-Herran treaty, but the Colom- 
bian Congress refused to ratify that treaty which had been 
advocated by its revolutionary president. The Paris and Wash- 
ington swindlers of Colombia said that the little republic was 
greedy and wanted more money, but no amendment to the 
treaty suggested at Bogota related to finance. The objection 
was a constitutional one that Colombia had no right to trans- 
fer the absolute sovereignty of its soil. 

The attitude of the United States in its threatening cor- 
respondence preceding the rejection of this treaty is disgrace- 
ful and brutal. The American Minister practically told the 
government that unless the treaty was ratified, war would fol- 
low. Three days after the Columbian Congress had adjourned 



PANAMA; A REVELRY IN CRIME 35 

without confirming the treaty, the Nashville arrived at Colon 
and next day the Panama Revolution had started and ended. 
The Pooh Bah of Panama, having behind him the powerful 
banking influences of Paris and New York, which were in 
absolute control of the authorities at Washington, fomented a 
revolution, the effect of which was to violate our treaties with 
Colombia and rob a sister republic of her territory in a way 
that would have disgraced ancient Carthage, and has made us 
not only feared but hated in all of the Latin-American coun- 
tries. The great American republic that had boastingly enun- 
ciated the Monroe Doctrine for the protection of its weaker 
sisters, was now found to be the most brutal of masters. 

Colombia having exercised its rights as an independent 
power, and the plans of the French swindlers and the Ameri- 
can Syndicate having been, apparently, frustrated, the United 
States officials entered into a conspiracy with Bmiau-Varilla 
and the other penalized stockholders of France, to rob Colom- 
bia of her territory, and thus completely to abrogate the clause 
in the concession of 1878, which prevented an assignment to 
any foreign governrment. 

The Panama Revolution was a conspiracy that was not 
hatched at the Waldorf-Astoria. Mr. Amador, the future 
President, and Mr. Cromwell, after their conference at the 
Waldorf, went to Washington, there culminated an arrange- 
ment whereby the American Navy and Marines should sup- 
port a revolution, then unhatched, and prevent Colombia from 
retaking her own revolting territory, in violation of all inter- 
national law and rules of common honesty and ethics. 
$100,000 is said to have been advanced to Amador to "finance" 
this prospective revolt. 

Net Results. 

What was the net result of this gigantic Panama swindle 
that has left in its trail two revolutions, hundreds of deaths, 



36 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

thousands of financial wrecks and suicides, to say nothing of 
the wrecks of reputations of individuals, banks and nations 
among those peoples who would like to look with respect upon 
republics? 

First, about one million of the Peasantry of France were 
induced to put their savings into an enterprise under false 
representations amounting to larceny. The richest and most 
influential statesmen, contractors, newspaper men and banks 
of France entered into a conspiracy to defraud their own fel- 
low citizens. In France as in America, the great criminals of 
to-day are the representatives of banks, railroads and the in- 
surance companies — the Predatory Rich. 

When public indignation was too violent to be appeased, the 
criminals were pursued and punished in part, but the punish- 
ment was remitted on the pretext of the necessity of a new 
corporation that should preserve the concessions from Colom- 
bia. These Napoleons of Cunning immediately proceeded to 
turn disaster into profit with the following results : small stock- 
holders, holding 300 millions of francs of stock in the Old 
Company, met with total loss ; more than a hundred millions of 
francs of the bonds were also a total loss, being forfeited, not 
having been turned into the liquidator during the six months — 
June 14, — December 14, 1904, as required. 

As soon as the $40,000,000 was paid over, all bondholders 
were required to present their bonds to the liquidator within si.x 
months. About 228,000 were presented and about 100,000 
were forfeited for non-presentment and were, like the stock, 
a total loss. Nearly all of the 228,000 bonds, payable to bearer, 
were turned in by the penalized banks. The Credit Lyon- 
nais and the Societe Generale alone presented more than 
one-half. To whom these bonds belonged is an open secret. 

The remaining bonded obligations of the Old Company re- 
ceived II per cent, of their holdings, exclusive of interest, but 
these holdings were nearly all held by the banks, having been 
bought from the original owners at about 3 per cent, of their 



PANAMA; A REVELRY IN CRIME 37 

par value. That was their market value. The culprits who 
were forced to become stockholders in the New Panama Com- 
pany, or go to jail, have been given a dividend of I2g per cent., 
which went to the present owners of the stock. Who they are 
is an open secret in Paris. 

As soon as the $40,000,000 was firmly in hand, the con- 
spirators proceeded to divide the booty. The liquidator on 
one side and the penalized board of the penalized company, on 
the other, under the guidance of their American Mercury, 
their joint patron divinity, appointed arbitrators to determine 
the shares of each, with the result that $25,000,000 was ap- 
portioned to the Old Company, giving its bondholders 11 per 
cent., and $15,000,000 to the New Company, giving its stock- 
holders 129 per cent. — not a bad investment on "fines." 
America should invent some law whereby all swindlers should 
not be imprisoned, but be fined with investments at 129 per 
cent, profit. America should be up to date. 

The Panama Canal purchase at forty millions was known 
to be an extravagant figure, but it was stated in the halls of 
Congress that it went to the Peasantry of France who were 
innocent victims. Those statements were not true. The actual 
value of the assets was practically nothing. Its railroad had 
to be substantially renewed; its concession was transparently 
void; its alleged material assets were junk. America's forty 
millions did not go to the Peasantry of France; it went to 
swindlers and speculators, and the Napoleon of Finance who 
conceived the plan and who engineered it throughout and 
brought it to a successful culmination, now openly boasts that 
he will be rewarded with a Cabinet portfolio., 

Congress has already appropriated $195,000,000 to the 
canal, nearly all of which has been spent, with untold millions 
yet to be expended in the construction of a canal at a point 
where many engineers think a permanent canal physically im- 
possible. 

America has bought a rat hole into which its millions will 



38 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

be poured indefinitely. The income from the canal, if ever 
completed, would be but a trifling return on the enormous in- 
vestment, and its principal benefits will accrue to those foreign 
nations which monopolize the carrying trade of the world. 

But America's greatest loss is a loss of self-respect, and 
the confidence and affection of her sister republics, in having 
become a partner in the greatest swindle of the nineteenth and 
twentieth centuries, and, while claiming to be the protector and 
"the great and good friend" of our weaker neighbors, being 
willing to turn oppressor the moment one of them stood up 
for its rights. 



"State of New York, 
"Executive Chamber, 

"Albany, March 8, 1899. 

"Col. Alexander S. Bacon, 36 Wall Street, New York City : 

"My dear Col. Bacon:— I have just read your piece in 
the Forum. I would give a great deal if every blessed mem- 
ber of the Cabinet and every Senator and Congressman could 
be compelled to learn it by heart and then forced to apply 
what it taught. 

With warm regards, believe me, faithfully yours, 

"Theodore Roosevelt." 

[If words were deeds and theories, practice, history, how 
different.] 

II. 

IS OUR ARMY DEGENERATE? 
(The Forum, March, 1899.) 

The late Spanish-American war has demonstrated beyond 
controversy the efficiency of our navy. The naval battles of 
Manila and Santiago have astonished, not to say startled, Con- 
tinental Europe, as did Marengo and Austerlitz. The United 
States has leaped suddenly, like a fullgrown giant, into the 
arena of European politics, and is recognized at once as the 
most resourceful military Power in the world. 

The American navy has surprised the world by its superb 
discipline, accurate markmanship, mechanical perfection, and 
strategic skill. The student of the art of war will analyze the 



40 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

manoeuvres of Dewey at Manila, and find them thoroughly 
scientific. The Admiral displayed energy, audacity, and skill, 
— the salient features of leadership in war. 

The naval orders governing the blockade of the rat-trap at 
Santiago were strategically correct and were executed without 
error. After weeks of weary, fruitless watching, the enemy 
sought to escape at the moment when it was hoped the block- 
aders would be unprepared ; but within two minutes the battle 
was on with terrific frenzy, and in twenty minutes one of the 
most decisive naval engagements of history was practically 
won. 

During the Civil War our naval operations were useful 
models for study ; and new models in naval architecture were 
developed that have revolutionized warfare on the sea. Since 
then our navy seems to have kept pace with the modern inven- 
tions of this inventive century; and all its forces — ships, 
officers, and men — are thoroughly up to date, constituting, 
probably, the most highly organized and scientific naval estab- 
lishment in the world. 

Is this development the evolution of chance? The United 
States Naval Academy at Annapolis was established in 1845, 
and has graduated the most highly educated corps of naval 
specialists in the world. Substantially all of the officers of our 
navy are graduates of the Academy (all but about a dozen out 
of 774 line officers on January i, 1898) ; all are students; all 
are men who have devoted a lifetime of systematic study to 
the theory as well as the practice of their profession. In the 
Naval Academy is found the secret of our recent victories. 

On the other hand, what do we find in the history of our 
army? The war of 1812 started out with the disgraceful re- 
treat and surrender of Gen. Hull, followed by the defeat at 
Queenstown, during which battle the New York militia ar- 
rived at the Niagara frontier and refused to go to the rescue of 
their brothers in distress, in plain sight across the river, be- 
cause it was "unconstitutional" to order them out of the State. 



IS OUR ARMY DEGENERATE 4I 

The crowning humiliation was found in the capture of our 
capital and the burning of our public buildings by only 3,500 
English regulars, who landed on the Lower Potomac, and 
were confronted by 7,000 American militia who ran away as 
fast as their legs could carry them the moment they caught 
sight of the red coats of the enemy. 

The Mexican War was conducted without scandal, and was 
really fought by the regulars, who, while numbering but 27 per 
cent, of the troops engaged, suffered 60 per cent, of the 
losses. Gen. Scott said : 

"I give it as my fixed opinion that, but for our graduated 
cadets, the war between the United States and Mexico 
might, and probably would, have lasted some four or five 
years, with, in its first half, more defeats than victories 
falling to our share ; whereas, in less than two campaigns, 
we conquered a great country and a peace without the 
loss of a single battle or skirmish." 

The early days of the Civil War developed some mistakes ; 
but they were the mistakes of ignorant levies and of junior 
officers. The country was poor in munitions of war; and, in 
the North, military spirit lay dormant. The poor sheep that 
were pushed off the field in the first battle of Bull Run scarcely 
knew the dangerous end of a gun. They did know that the 
butt end was dangerous because it kicked them : but the muzzle 
was comparatively harmless ; for they could hit nothing they 
aimed at. The junior officers scarcely knew "Fours right 
about!" from a double somersault. But the "poor sheep" of 
'61 became, under efficient leadership, the heroes of '62. Our 
recruits flocked to the Potomac frontier, but were sent back 
until our agents could scour Europe for old, rusty muskets for 
which we paid exorbitant prices ; yet the general officers on 
both sides displayed skill, and soon brought order out of chaos. 
The Commissary and Quartermaster's departments were con- 
ducted without scandal. It took some time to teach the Yankee 



42 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

how to ride a horse ; but what magnificent cavalry followed at 
the heds of young "Phil" Sheridan in 1864! 

The Civil War had scientific leaders pitted against scientific 
leaders ; and raw levies rapidly developed into hardened 
veterans. The South, with fewer resources, but with the great 
advantage of the defensive, fought like tigers and died like 
heroes, till, leadership being equal, the God of Battles placed 
the wreath of victory on the banners of the heaviest battalions. 
Skilful leaders make skilful troops ; and we have the authority 
of Gen. Grant for saying that the seasoned veterans that 
passed in the last review before President Johnson at Wash- 
ington in 1865 were the best troops the world ever saw. For 
there are no soldiers like patriotic, intelligent, and educated 
soldiers of experience. If Napoleon Bonaparte could have 
had one army corps like them at Waterloo, where his soldiers 
were schoolboys, and his marshalls "small change," — well, all 
Europe might have been France to-day. But he could not 
have them. That kind of flower does not bloom under 
monarchies. It takes the rich soil of liberty and the hot sun 
of national necessity to develop such intelligent, enthusiastic, 
and unselfish patriotism. 

Sir Archibald Alison, in his "History of Europe," after 
commenting upon the worthless character of our raw troops, 
and the magnificent fighting-material that they developed when 
instructed and disciplined, advises Great Britain, in the event 
of another war with the United States, to throw suddenly a 
large force into our great seaports, and, by a succession of 
quick, stunning blows, to humiliate the Americans, and make 
them sue for peace before they have time to prepare for war. 
England's control of the ocean greyhounds would enable her to 
carry out this programme ; and our experience in the Spanish 
War indicates how serious might have been our position had 
we confronted a well-fed and well-organized foe. 

We have no criticism for the army of '61 -'65. The leaders 
were young, vigorous, and highly educated military specialists. 



IS OUR ARMY DEGENERATE 43 

The raw material for troops was the very best; and its rapid 
development into a superb army did credit to the skill of the 
senior officers and to the intelligence of the field and line. The 
material at hand was the crudest possible. It is doubtful if 
there were a hundred men in the North, outside of the army, 
who could command a battalion; and but few more were 
competent to command a company. 

In 1 86 1 the United States was comparatively a nation of 
farmers, without diversified industries. We had few factories, 
little commerce, and less credit; plenty of men and plenty of 
food, but no munitions of war, no guns, no uniforms ; enough 
excellent material for generals, but practically no drill-masters. 
What a change in 1899! We are to-day the richest 
nation of the world, with money and credit to spare. 
According to Mulhall's "Dictionary of Statistics," the 
wealth of the United States in 1890 was sixty-five 
billions of dollars ; of Great Britain, forty-five billions ; 
of France, forty-one ; and of Germany, thirty-four. Our 
riches are beyond even our own comprehension. Our diversi- 
fied industries could supply the world. Existing plants, work- 
ing night and day, could, in four hundred days, furnish all the 
armies of Europe, active and reserve, with rifles of the highest 
grade. We could feed them by cultivating our waste places 
and fence corners. We could furnish them with uniforms 
when alive and with coffins when dead. We have thousands 
of well-drilled National Guardsmen, — counting active members 
and veterans, — hundreds of men competent to command bat- 
talions, and thousands competent to drill volunteers. North 
and South stand shoulder to shoulder without jealousy, in- 
spired by patriotic emulation. The North is to-day as military 
as the South ever was ; and our young men are willing to sacri- 
fice everything to satisfy their thirst for military glory. The 
military spirit is in the air. 

And yet, in the war of 1898 our army developed little but 
scandal. With overflowing granaries, from which we freely 



44 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

fed strangers in distress, our soldiers often lacked food ; with 
skilful physicians and abundant remedies, our sick heroes died 
without medicine; and all the time food and drugs in plenty- 
were stored in ships riding at anchor in plain sight on a smooth 
sea. We have highly educated military specialists in abun- 
dance, — young, energetic, ambitious, already famous in mili- 
tary literature, — yet our one prominent campaign was con- 
ducted without system on the go-as-you-please plan, and the 
one prominent land battle was fought and won by colonels and 
captains. I am aware that interested persons will deny the 
truth of some of these statements ; but knowledge gained in 
the practice of my profession permits me to allege them with 
confidence. 

What is the matter? Why are there no talented leaders like 
those of '65? The problem of '61 is reversed. Then, inexperi- 
enced subalterns and men were at fault ; now, company officers 
and men take the bits in their mouths, and, in spite of their 
general, gain glory at San Juan and El Caney. Is our army 
degenerate? 

My first answer to this question must be "Yes," because the 
most important part of an army is its general — not its generals, 
nor its Strategy Board; for no army was ever large enough 
or small enough to be commanded by two men. 

The United States is the most resourceful military Power 
on earth. The military strength of a nation consists of (i) 
its natural resources, (2) its disciplined battalions, (3) its 
corps of military specialists for the line and staff departments, 
and (4) the genius of the one man that commands them all. 
The last is far more important than all the rest combined ; for 
history has demonstrated beyond controversy that if a reason- 
able opportunity be presented he will create the other three. 

( I ) The natural military resources of a nation consist of its 
fighting-material of intelligent and patriotic men, its abundance 
of food, wool, and iron, — all gifts of God, — and its manufac- 



IS OUR ARMY DEGENERATE 45 

tories of iron, wool, and explosives, which are all the result of 
its own good economic sense. 

To-day the United States has the best natural military re- 
sources of any two nations of the world. A crisis would prob- 
ably put from eight to ten millions of intelligent bayonets in the 
field (it would, of course, take years of discipline to make real 
soldiers of them) ; and within our own borders are food, wool, 
and iron in abundance, and factories to convert them into ma- 
terials of war. 

(2) With regard to the second element of strength, well- 
disciplined battalions, we are as poorly equipped as any second- 
rate nation of the globe. Our regular army is superb, but too 
small to be noticed. Our National Guard, in some States, is 
excellent ; in others, poor. In nearly all of them it is controlled 
by politics, not by the rules of war. Its marked weakness is in 
its higher officers, many of whom have never dreamed of any 
military literature other than the drill regulations, and consider 
that military organization the best which presents the most 
gorgeous appearance on a Decoration Day parade, and receives 
the most applause from children and nurses. The National 
Guard gives us, however, an enormous advantage over our 
condition in '6i, in that so large a proportion of its officers and 
men are competent to drill volunteers and to become excellent 
subaltern officers. National Guardsmen have, as a rule, con- 
siderable preliminary military knowledge, but little discipline, 
which latter is a growth, and cannot be acquired suddenly. Dis- 
cipline consists in obeying orders without thinking, automatic- 
ally as from a confirmed habit ; like character, it takes time for 
development. 

(3) In relation to the third military resource, a corps of 
highly educated military specialists, the United States is ad- 
mitted to have the finest in the world in the graduates of its 
Military Academy. No other nation has any institution that 
pretends to rival our national school. 

(4) The fourth military resource, a military genius for a 



46 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

commander, can only be developed by emergencies. "The poet 
is born, not made" ; but great generals are both born and made. 
It takes years of conscientious study to develop a born military 
genius into even a fair general. They are never developed ex- 
cept from among educated military specialists. This new 
Am.erican race, this race of inventors, is not wanting in 
military geniuses from which to choose a competent com- 
mander, as will hereinafter appear. 

It will be noticed that I have given to the United States the 
very first rank as a military nation in all respects except dis- 
ciplined battalions. Natural military resources mean nothing 
unless battalions are disciplined ; for undisciplined men are 
mere mobs, a source of weakness, not strength. Natural 
military resources and well-disciplined battalions combined 
mean very little unless there are higher educated officers to 
command the larger subdivisions of the army and in the 
staff departments. And no matter how great the military re- 
sources, how abundant the well-disciplined battalions, how 
numerous the military specialists in the sevaral staff depart- 
ments, they will all be as children in the hands of a giant, like 
Rome's half-million of stalwart sons in the presence of a Han- 
nibal, if our armies be outgeneralled. 

I am aware that most people will resent the idea that one 
man can be of more importance to his country than all its other 
resources combined ; but most people do not know that there 
is such a thing as a Science of War, — the most important and 
most difficult of all sciences, a science that not only has its 
own specialties in strategy and tactics, logistics and military 
engineering, but utilizes and subordinates all other known 
sciences. The history of the world emphasizes the "one man" 
idea. 

The fate of war does not always depend upon the weight 
or discipline of a nation's battalions. It as often depends upon 
the genius and learning of one man ; and I wish to em- 
phasize and illustrate this "one man" idea, — the fact that one 



IS OUR ARMY DEGENERATE 47 

highly educated military specialist is often of far greater value 
to his country than disciplined armies. Space does not permit 
me even to mention the names of the greatest generals, all of 
whom were literary and scientific soldiers, whose biographies 
are largely the history of the world, and whose victories were 
the triumphs of individual geniuses. A single illustration 
must suffice. 

The troops of Carthage were mercenaries, and never 
equalled the free legionaries of Rome ; and yet Hannibal, with 
only 26,000 of these hirelings, accomplished what was con- 
sidered impossible, in crossing the Alps from Spain. He 
destroyed three large Roman armies in succession at the 
Trebia, Lake Trasimenus, and Cannae. Hannibal's science 
triumphed over Roman brute force and discipline. For half 
a generation he kept Rome on the brink of ruin and despair, 
and so intimidated the haughty, all-conquering Romans, that, 
for years, with hundreds of thousands of well-fed, well-armed, 
and well-disciplined troops in the field, they never dared to 
attack the ragged, half-starved, heterogeneous hirelings of 
Hannibal, but endeavored to wear him out in a guerilla warfare 
in front of their own capital. Like a pack of bloodhounds 
around a bear at bay, they dared not risk a final struggle. Rome 
possessed half a million of the best troops in the world; but 
her only idea of war was to march out and fight a battle. By 
numbers, courage, discipline, and hard knocks, she had won 
battles and conquered nations, until a military genius appeared 
and overcame her with a handful of ragamuffins. Hannibal 
taught Rome that war is a science, that intellect can conquer 
brute force, and that one man educated in the science of war 
is of more value to the state than many legions of good soldiers 
without scientific leadership. It was the physical, mental, and 
moral qualities of one man that humiliated Rome. 

With an incompetent leader, the best troops are helpless. 
When a campaign goes wrong, it is one man that is to blame, 



48 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

if he has been given all the powers that rightfully belong to a 
commander. 

Let us note in passing that all the greatest soldiers have 
been young men. "Old men for counsel, young men for war." 
Alexander's active military career began at i8 and ended at 
33; Hannibal's extended from 13 to 47; Caesar's, 40 to 55; 
Gustavus', 16 to 38; Frederick's, 28 to 51 ; Napoleon's, 2^ to 
46. Caesar was a subaltern at 20, and served in several cam- 
paigns before his active military career began. Every promi- 
nent general of the Civil War, I think, was in 1861 under 45 
years of age, excepting Gen. Lee, who was 54. I know of no 
major-general in the recent Spanish War who was under 60 
years of age. 

The first axiom of war is "Action, Action, ACTION !" I 
have no recollection of any great general in an active campaign 
who was over 60. The indefatigable Frederick fought what 
he called a war, extending over a year, when he was 66 ; but it 
contained nothing but vexatious delays, no battles, and a treaty, 
How different from the Frederick of 28 ! 

Napoleon was an old man at forty, when his downward 
career began. His was a short-lived race, he having lost five 
ancestors within a century. His father died at 38 of the same 
disease as his illustrious son. Napoleon once said of himself, 
when he was thirty-five, "One has but a certain time -for war. 
I shall be good for it but six years more : then even I shall have 
to stop." His words were apparently prophetic ; for at about 
that time his star of success began to wane. The physical en- 
durance of a military genius had gone. It is simply suicidal 
to place the command of active armies in the hands of an old 
man. Yet the new Army Bill, as proposed, would permit the 
appointment of civilians up to fifty years of age. 

Every great general must have the body, spirit, and brain 
of a great soldier. A general should be sound in body. All 
great generals have displayed marvellous physical endurance. 
Many interesting examples might be cited. At forty Napoleon 



IS OUR ARMY DEGENERATE 49 

Bonaparte had grown fat and lethargic. His brain never 
dimmed; but the body and spirit of a leader had departed. 
Had he retained at Waterloo the thin, wiry body of '96, he 
might have prevailed. 

Every commanding general should have the spirit of a 
hero, — that indefinable something which inspires his men with 
his own enthusiasm. An icicle has no place at the head of an 
army ; for enthusiasm is worth more than rifles. Witness the 
patriotic Japanese marching rough-shod over the numberless 
battalions of phlegmatic China. 

Last, and most important of all, every general should have- 
educated brains. Natural genius is not enough. War is both 
an art and science. Every great general of history has been 
an educated soldier and a military specialist. Especially in 
these modern times, theory and practice must go hand in hand ; 
and years of ardent study are none too long to fit a "born 
genius" for active service. No one would think of putting a 
"born mechanic" in charge of the intricate engines of a bat- 
tleship, even though he were a tireless stump speaker, unless 
he were an educated engineer. Yet naval engineering may be 
taught in a year or two; while it takes a lifetime of study to 
acquire the "military habit" and to be competent to exercise an 
independent command. To appoint an inexperienced "natural 
born genius" (i. e., a politician, or his son) to command a 
battleship or a regiment is to be guilty as accessory to whole- 
sale murder. I say regiment; for by the term "general" we 
must include whoever is called upon to exercise an independent 
command. While any officer may, a colonel of a regiment is 
expected to, find himself in that responsible position in fre- 
quent emergencies. Therefore, he should possess all the 
knowledge necessary to keep his command in health, strength, 
and good nature, to move it with celerity, and to fight it with 
confidence; and to his technical knowledge must be added 
tact and that force of character which commands respect and 
inspires enthusiasm in his troops. 



50 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

Before finally answering the question "Is our army 
degenerate?" let me give a further illustration. The great 
cathedrals of Europe were centuries in building. Generations 
of master-masons chiselled the stones faultlessly, fathers teach- 
ing their sons. But when a new cathedral was projected, no 
stone-mason, even though he had excelled at his art for fifty 
years, was selected to draw the plans : an architect was chosen 
who had spent his time in school studying theories. So in 
war, experience in subaltern positions does not fit an officer 
for independent command. He is but a stone-mason, not an 
architect ; and architects in war must have wide learning in 
science, literature, and art. If a stone-mason becomes an 
architect, it is in spite of his trade, not by reason of it. 

What was the trouble in the Spanish War? Its leaders 
were stone-masons, some of them of long service ; but they 
were not educated architects. After the Civil War the most 
active and ambitious officers returned to civil life and won 
fresh laurels. Others, if they had sufficient political influence, 
received commissions in the regular service ; and for thirty- 
three years they drew their pay and breathed, and gained rank 
by merely living, until, in 1898, they were at the heads of 
armies and departments. Had the Spanish War become seri- 
ous, all of these old men would have dropped out as suddenly 
as did the veterans of '45 after the first battle of Bull Run. 
Toward the close of the Civil War, after the nation had had 
the discipline of defeat, every commander of an army and of 
a department was a graduate of the Military Academy; and 
the war was conducted by the general commanding in the field, 
not by politicians in Washington presuming to know more 
about war by intuition than their generals did by education and 
experience combined. 

In 1866 the army was reorganized on a peace footing; a^d 
we learn from the "Army Register" of January i, 1867, that 
out of 2,367 general, field, and line officers of the regular army 
only 408, or 17 per cent., were graduates of the Military Aca- 



IS OUR ARMY DEGENERATE 5 1 

demy. And even this small percentage included more than 
I GO cadets graduated in 1865 and 1866, after the war was 
over. The civilian spirit dominated; and regiments were so 
subdivided, and companies so scattered, that commanding 
officers could exert but little personal influence. 

It was not until the eighties that the younger element be- 
came numerous enough, experienced enough, and brave enough 
to make themselves felt. The literary and industrious spirit 
seized the younger officers. The Military Service Institution 
and Infantry and Cavalry schools were founded ; and field 
manoeuvres and target-practice were established. The army 
was too small for practice in strategy ; but the strategy game 
of Kriegspiel became popular. Essays on strategy in all its 
branches became a fad ; and the younger officers drilled by day 
and studied by night. I believe it fair to say that the majority 
of our officers under forty-five years of age are to-day the 
most highly educated and accomplished military strategists in 
the world : they only lack an opportunity to demonstrate their 
theories. Like Napoleon before the Italian campaigns, un- 
known to fame, they have spent years in the study of the Art 
of War; literally lying on their maps, working out every con- 
ceivable military problem that might be presented, and awaiting 
the opportunity that finally came to Napoleon. I have no 
hesitation in making the prophecy that, should a similar emer- 
gency arise, hundreds of our young officers would appear 
as fully equipped military geniuses of inestimable value to their 
country. 

But in the war of 1898 young men and educated soldiers 
had no opportunity. Excepting the Engineer and Ordnance 
corps, which took little active part in the struggle, every head 
of a department was a non-graduate. At the beginning of the 
war, of the 6 brigadiers all were non-graduates. Of the 3 
major-generals only i was a graduate ; and he was "shelved," 
as it was thought, in the Philippines. But it transpired that 
his was the only campaign of the war conducted with science 



52 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

and without adverse criticism. His men were well fed, well 
cared for, well clothed, and skilfully handled 8,000 miles away 
from his base of supplies. It is almost needless to say that he 
insisted on having educated subordinates in the higher com- 
mands and important staff positions. 

Of the 18 volunteer major-generals appointed during the 
war only i (now retired) was a graduate taken from the army : 
the other 3 graduates were old men and prominent politicians 
taken from civil life. Of the 72 volunteer brigadiers 23 were 
graduates, and 49 non-graduates : 7 of the graduates were 
from civil life and mostly from political life. Of the 41 field 
officers of regular regiments before Santiago only 4 were 
graduates. Only 2 of the 10 captains of artillery were gradu- 
ates. The captains and the lieutenants of the regiments, how- 
ever, were nearly all graduates. The appointees in the de- 
partments of the Adjutant-General, the Inspector-General, the 
Judge-Advocate-General, and the Paymaster-General were 
largely civilians. In the two departments which developed the 
most scandal, of the 121 new officers appointed in the Quarter- 
master's Department 79 were from civil life, and 42 from the 
army : of the latter only a very small number were graduates. 
In the Subsistence Department, of 115 new appointments 92 
were from civil life, and 22, from the army, not all of whom 
were graduates. 

After four years of ivar the reorganized regular army had 
in 1866 I general, i lieutenant-general, all 5 major-generals, 
and 8 out of 10 brigadiers, who were graduates of West Point. 
After thirty-three years of peace, on January i, 1898, of 3 
major-generals and 6 brigadiers i only was a graduate. 

An examination of the rosters shows that the recent war 
was led by stone-masons : the battles were won by the captains 
who were architects. In the war of '61 all heads of depart- 
ments (except the Medical Department) were graduates: in 
the war of '98 all heads of departments (except those of Engi- 



IS OUR ARMY DEGENERATE 53 

neering and Ordnance) were non-graduates. What contrast 
in their records! 

What was the matter with the army of 1898? A stone- 
mason as Secretary of War, a stone-mason at the head of each 
department, and stone-masons in command. Why does the 
Government spend a fortune on the education of each of its 
mihtary architects, and, when he oflfers his services in time of 
war, ignore him and take up inexperienced "fathers' sons" in- 
stead? It is pohtics, not war. There were hundreds of West 
Point graduates, with wide experience in the army and Na- 
tional Guard, who tendered their services time and again, but 
were ignored because they were not backed by a poHtical boss. 
The estabhshment of the Mihtary Academy was recommended 
by Washington and was founded in 1802. Our own and 
foreign mihtary critics, as I have said, pronounce it to be the 
very best scientific mihtary school in the world. Why does 
the Government expend so much money on it each year, if its 
graduates are not utilized, if one may become a great soldier 
by merely possessing the friendship of a Senator? 

Our army is to be suddenly increased to 100,000 men. Who 
will be the new officers? Politicians' sons, of course, or old, 
worn-out politicians ready to be retired on three-fourths pay 
for hfe. What will be the result in the next war? Disaster, of 
course, until young men, brainy men, educated speciahsts, are 
put to the front. We have an abundance of the best officers in 
the world; and they should be utilized where their technical 
knowledge and enthusiasm can be felt. Our Government 
should know that the bare fact that a man can ride a staid old 
cart-horse without falling off does not fit him to command a 
regiment any more than freedom from seasickness on a ferry- 
boat fits a man to command the "Oregon." No one should he 
permitted to hold the position of general or colonel, or to 
serve on any division or brigade staff in the regular army, un- 
less he he a graduate of the Military Academy, or have shown 
special fitness during years of army service, and have passed a 



54 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

rigid examination in strategy, tactics, logistics, and military 
engineering at least — the foundation-stones of military learn- 
ing. It is worse than a blunder, it is, as I have said, a crime, 
to put thousands of precious lives under the command of an 
uneducated soldier, no matter how experienced and efficient 
as a subaltern; for the trade of stone-mason does not fit a 
man for the profession of architect. The code of ethics in- 
culcated at West Point does not permit officers to seek self- 
advancement through private or indirect channels. They are, 
therefore, practically unknown to their political rulers, who 
are surrounded by self-seekers. The public is equally ignorant 
of actual conditions; and, as officers in the service are not 
permitted to speak for themselves, it is high time that some one 
should speak for them. 

These are scientific times. War is the most scientific of pro- 
fessions; and, if we wish Manilas on the land, we must equip 
our regiments as skilfully as we do our battleships. 

I am aware that individuals usually get the blame for the 
results of bad methods, and that the real censure should rest 
upon our bureau system, which is not only bad, but ridiculous. 
Who can imagine Csesar winning victories over the Helvetii 
by advancing the right wing instead of the left, in obedience 
to a message from a strategy board in Rome, or delaying his 
expedition into Britain while the Senate quarrelled over the 
selection of his quartermaster- and commissary-generals, 
chosen for life, and independent from the general commanding, 
and who might or might not favor him with transportation and 
supplies. Why a ridiculous system of independent staff 
bureaus for the army, while the navy escapes this affliction? Is 
one less technical or scientific than the other ? Who, pray, has 
changed the laws of war on land, and left them unchanged 
at sea? 

Of course, military experts laugh at us. But what is to 
blame ? Politics, of course. What makes us so foolish and un- 
patriotic? Why, hunger for spoils during long years of peace. 



IS OUR ARMY DEGENERATE 55 

And we see no hope of improvement, until the time shall come 
when we are called upon suddenly to meet a foe that is neither 
hungry nor anxious to be whipped and sent home. Then, 
after the humiliation of defeat, we shall cease to run armies 
and regiments on the Town-Meeting system. One man will be 
put in command, with absolute control over every subordinate ; 
and the politicians will be relegated to the rear in military as 
well as in naval affairs. The time will come when our rulers 
will find that warfare on land is quite as scientific as warfare 
on the sea, and that our permanent independent bureaus are 
prohibitive of rapid and decisive military operations. 

Our army as a ivhole is not degenerate. The personnel of 
the rank and file is superb. The younger and middle-aged 
officers positively have no superiors. Give the young men a 
chance, give the architects a chance, and we shall see our new 
army of 100,000 men tactically as perfect as Frederick's, and 
manoeuvred as scientifically as Napoleon's. 

Our navy is perfection because all its officers are scientific 
sailors. Did it make our politicians seasick to ride a horse, 
our army would be equally favored and equally efficient. It 
is the politicians who are degenerate. The Naval Academy 
is the mother of the navy; the Military Academ.y is the step- 
mother of the army. The one reveres its mother and follows 
her precepts : the other, unable to comprehend its step-mother, 
is jealous of her influence. The difference is seen in the scien- 
tific manoeuvres before Santiago on the sea and in the hap- 
hazard manoeuvres around it on the land. Utilize our scien- 
tific officers, and we shall have a scientific army. 



III. 

THE WOOLLY HORSE. 
{Army and Navy Critic, Aug., 1904.) 

When P. T. Barnum imposed upon the American people the 
pleasing deceit of a woolly horse, he exercised the functions 
of a showman, and when rain loosened the glue and washed 
off the wool, the owner of the "one and only greatest show on 
earth" was endeared only the more affectionately in the hearts 
of the American people. His deception was harmless and 
wholly good-natured. 

A rich farmer came to New York to spend a week and take 
in the sights. He put up at the Waldorf-Astoria and spent his 
money freely. A western mining man with a mine for sale 
stopped at the same tavern and joined his sight-seeing. In 
the evening they passed the time in an old-fashioned game of 
seven-up until the farmer had his friend's money and his note 
besides. The mine owner then confided to him the fact that 
he had several bricks of pure gold from his mine worth $20.67 
an ounce, but that he would sell one of them to him for $10 an 
ounce and take up his note. The bargain was struck and the 
friend disappeared. An assay of the brick showed that it was 
worth ten cents a pound. Did the farmer tell the poHce and 
write a confession to his wife? No indeed, he went to a cheap 
boarding house, took with him some Waldorf stationery, staid 
out his week, and ever after, if any one should perpetrate the 
aged gold-brick joke in his presence, he would take it as a 
personal insult, thinking that his experience was known. 

Our farmer friend was not less brave physically or mentally 
than the victims of the woolly horse, but his vanity was hurt. 
He was cowardly only in the presence of a sneer. Had the 



THE WOOLLY HORSE 57 

amount involved been small, or had the swindle been new, or 
had it been perpetrated as a joke, he would have laughed it 
away. 

The American people do love a joke, even at their own ex- 
pense ; but it must be a joke. They abominate a serious fraud, 
and especially a fraud for gain. This leads us to reflect upon 
some recent fakes in American history that have been perpe- 
trated in all seriousness, and yet the actors, instead of bein^ 
tarred and feathered, have been rewarded, for no other ap- 
parent reason than that the American people are ashamed that 
they have been so green as to be deceived in a gold-brick game 
perpetrated by their own leaders. Their vanity is hurt, and 
they will hate the man who assays the brick. 

The Capture of the City of Manila. 

The report for 1898 of the Major General commanding the 
armies of the United States contains about 80 pages of reports 
from officers, high and low, relative to the capture of the City 
of Manila. These reports, in technical and grandiloquent 
language, explain the scientific military maneuvers which re- 
sulted in the triumph of the American Army. General Mac- 
Arthur's report is especially Napoleonic. The gallantry of 
subordinates is dwelt upon, with many recommendations for 
preferment. We have learned later, however, from sworn 
testimony before a Committee of Congress, that this capture of 
the City of Manila was pre-arranged by an agreement be- 
tween its commandant and the commanding officers of the 
American Army and Navy, and that the attack was a mere 
pretense, designed to save the honor — and, incidentally, the 
neck — of the Spanish Commander, and to prevent the entry 
into Manila of the Filipino Army that was pressing it hard on 
the land side, and whose vengeance the Spaniards feared. 

Admiral Dewey testified before the Congressional Committee 
(pages 2927 et seq.) as follows: 

"The Governor General of Manila virtually surrendered to 



58 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

me on the first day of May. It was all arranged and we need 
not have lost a man there." Q. "To whom did you communi- 
cate the arrangements that you had?" A. "General Merritt 
and, of course, all of my own Captains. * * * (It was 
stated) That the Spaniards were ready to surrender, but be- 
fore doing so I must engage one of the outlying forts. * * * 
They [the Spaniards] said I must engage and fire for a while, 
and then I was to make signal by the international code, 'Do 
you surrender?' Then they were to hoist a white flag at a 
certain bastion j * * * I fired for a while and then made 
the signal according to the program. * * * 

"I read General MacArthur's testimony in which he said 
he knew of no such arrangement as that. * * * j told 
General Merritt. I went to see him on one of the steamers, 
and he had several of his officers with him. * * * j^ -^^5 
generally known in my squadron that there was to be no real 
battle, as the Spaniards were not to Hre." 

Senator Patterson : "The information we got in this country 
was that it was simply and purely a storming and capture of 
the City of Manila. We did not get any information of the 
agreement." 

Admiral Dewey : "Oh, no ; there are lots of things that are 
not given out" (by the Department), 

The object of this feigned attack does not seem to have been 
bad — a Spanish General's neck is always worth saving — but 
the reports of it are transparently insincere, and we do object 
to numerous promotions for "conspicuous bravery" in a sham 
battle. It resembles a gold brick more than a woolly horse, 
and we don't like to be reminded of a gold brick. 

The Capture of Aguinaldo. 

Nothing has hurt the pride of the American people so much 
as to be sold a gold brick in relation to the alleged capture of 
Aguinaldo. The story is a very startling one and was intended 
to thrill the American people with a tale of bravery, suffering 



THE WOOLLY HORSE 59 

and hardship entailed in carrying out a cunning device in the 
capture of the wily leader of the Filipino insurrection, who, for 
years, had eluded every attempt at capture. 

General MacArthur's cablegram to Washington of March 
28, 1901, was almost as spectacular as Napoleon's proclama- 
tion at the Pyramids. It says, in part: — "No casualties our 
side. Splendid co-operation Navy through Commander Barry, 
officers, men. Vicksburg indispensable to success. Funston 
loudly praises Navy. Entire Army joins in thanks sea service. 

"Transaction was brilliant in conception and faultless in exe- 
cution. All credit must go Funston, who, under supervision 
of General Wheaton, organized and conducted expedition from 
start to finish. His reward should be signal and immediate. 
Agree with General Wheaton, who recommends Funston's 
retention Volunteers until he can be appointed Brigadier 
General Regulars." 

General Funston's own account of his adventures is sub- 
stantially as follows : A messenger from Aguinaldo, sent after 
reinforcements, voluntarily delivered up himself and his 
papers to Lieutenant Taylor, who turned him over to Colonel 
Funston, who went to Manila and organized an expedition for 
Aguinaldo's capture. Taking eighty Macabebe scouts enlisted 
in the American Army, he dressed some of them as peasants 
and others in the uniform of the insurgents. Going on board 
the Vicksburg, after sailing for six days and a half around the 
southern part of the Island of Luzon, they landed at a point 
only about 120 miles in a straight line from Manila, about 
ten or fifteen miles below Casiguran. They then went into 
that town and took on supplies, including twelve peasants to 
carry their burdens, and made their way on foot to Palanan, 
where Aguinaldo was in hiding. They sent Aguinaldo forged 
letters, indicating that they were coming with the desired 
reinforcements, having five American prisoners (Funston and 
his lieutenants dressed as privates). They experienced all 
manner of privations on the way and were obliged, on one 



6o THE WOOLLY HORSE 

occasion, even to eat octopus. Arriving within a few miles 
of Palanan, they sent for food to Aguinaldo, who gave it 
freely. The head of the column crossed the river at Palanan, 
about half an hour before the "captive" officers crossed it in 
a small boat, and almost immediately the disguised Macabebes 
opened fire upon the Filipino guard of about twenty men who 
were drawn up on parade to salute the reinforcements. Three 
Filipinos were killed. Aguinaldo had already been taken pos- 
session of by the native officers before the arrival of Funston 
and his lieutenants. 

After recuperating for a day, the party journeyed for six 
miles to Palanan Bay, when the Vicksburg appeared and took 
them to Manila in one day and a half around the northern 
part of the island. 

In short, an American General, disguised as a private in 
captivity, actually commands a force, a part of whom are 
hired deserters from the enemy, clothed in the enemy's uni- 
form. Under this disguise, he enters the enemy's country, 
passes within the lines of sentinels, attacks a body of the 
enemy in uniform, while in the act of saluting, kills several, 
and captures the General commanding. Such in substance is 
the official account. 

This report admits a plain violation of the laws of war, and 
no educated soldier would ever have been fool enough to admit 
such perfidy, even though he had been base enough to perpe- 
trate it. General Funston is a mere soldier of fortune, and 
probably never heard of General Orders lOO, Series of 1863, 
which promulgated the laws relative to civilized warfare. 

He had, of course, never heard of Article XXIII. of the 
Plague Convention, 1899, ratified by the United States, which 
prohibits belligerents "to make improper use of a flag of 
truce, a national flag, or the enemy's military ensigns or 
UNIFORMS as well as the distinctive badges of the Geneva 
Convention." 

Everything done by General Funston would doubtless have 



THE WOOLLY HORSE 6l 

been perfectly proper on the part of a spy, who is merely a 
detective or reporter, and who seeks information only, but does 
not kill or forage. His calling is dangerous, but highly honor- 
able. "A spy himself may even be an heroic character" 
(Winthrop's Military Lazv, p. 1200). There are no more 
honored names in English and American history than Andre 
and Nathan Hale. If a soldier, seeking information, is dressed 
in his own uniform, he is not a spy ; if disguised, he is a spy, 
and, if captured, is entitled to a trial and, upon conviction, may 
be shot. His death is honorable. But "one who goes secretly 
within the lines with a view to the destruction of property, 
killing of persons, robbery and the like, is not, as such, a 
spy." (Winthrop, p. 1196.) To enter the lines of the enemy 
in the garb of his uniform is not legitimate warfare. It is con- 
demned as "perfidy" and is subject to punishment, not only at 
the hands of the enemy, but by his own Government. Civilized 
nations do not recognize such methods. Such persons are 
guerrillas. (Winthrop, p. 1219.) 

"A resort to the employment of assassins, or other violent or 
harmful and secret method which cannot be guarded against 
by ordinary vigilance, is interdicted by civilized usage. * * * 
So it has been held not to be lawful to deceive designedly an 
enemy by being disguised in the uniform of his army ; and 
soldiers captured, when for a deceitful purpose so disguised, 
within the lines of the opposing forces, are not entitled to be 
treated as prisoners of war, but may be shot without trial." 
(Winthrop, p. 1223.) 

It is the duty of every civilized nation to punish its own 
soldiers who violate a flag of truce or commit any equally 
heinous offense, such as entering the lines of the enemy with- 
out uniform or in a false uniform for any purpose other than 
the obtaining of information. 

Filipino insurgents in uniform were shot down by deserters 
from their own ranks, masquerading as friends, by the direct 
command of an American General, and, under the laws of 



62 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

civilized warfare, they were all assassins, and the killing was 
murder. The offense ranks with the poisoning of wells, and 
the violation of a flag of truce or safe conduct. 

We take the following from General Orders No. lOo: 

"As martial law is executed by military force, it is incumbent 
upon those who administer it to be strictly guided by the prin- 
ciples of justice, honor and humanity — virtues adorning a 
soldier even more than other men, for the very reason that he 
possesses the power of his arms against the unanned." (Sec- 
tion 4.) 

"Military necessity admits of all direct destruction of life 
or limb of armed enemies and of all other persons whose 
destruction is incidentally unavoidable in the armed contests 
of the war; * * * (it permits) of such deception as does 
not involve the breaking of good faith, either positively 
pledged, regarding agreements entered into during the war, or 
supposed by the modern law of war to exist. Men who take 
up arms against one another in public war do not cease on 
this account to be moral beings, responsible to one another and 
to God." (Section 15.) 

"Troops who fight in the uniforms of their enemies, without 
any plain, striking and uniform mark of distinction of their 
own, can expect no quarter." (Section 63.) 

"The use of the enemy's national standard, flag or other em- 
blem of nationality, for the purpose of deceiving the enemy in 
battle, is an act of perfidy, by which they lose all claim to 
the protection of the laws of war." (Section 65.) 

General Funston's act of perfidy having been called to the 
attention of the press, all sorts of excuses for it were in- 
vented, three of which deserve consideration: 

I. Aguinaldo was himself a murderer and an outlaw, in 
hiding, and any violation of the laws of war — any act of 
perfidy — even to the violation of a flag of truce or the 
enemy's uniform, was justifiable in his case. 



THE WOOLLY HORSE 



63 



2. Aguinaldo and his troops were not recognized as belliger- 
ents and therefore not protected by the laws of war. 

3. The uniform of Aguinaldo's bodyguard was not enough 
of a uniform to merit the term. 

Answering the third pretext first, we will simply say that 
Funston, his lieutenants, Aguinaldo, and all who have written 
on the subject, have falsified unanimously, if the Filipinos did 
not have a distinctive uniform. Inasmuch as General Funston 
has boasted, in his official report, of his cunning trick in violat- 
ing the enemy's uniform, he must take the consequences of his 
boast. 

In answer to the first excuse, we will say that there is no 
sufficient evidence that Aguinaldo ever committed murder. 
He certainly was not an outlaw. Whether or not he was in 
hiding will be considered later. If he had committed any 
crime or any violation of the laws of war, he should have been 
tried and executed ; at least, he should have been imprisoned 
like any other felon. On the contrary, he was treated as a 
captive prince, or rather, as a princely guest. On board the 
Vicksburg he dined with the officers. Arriving at Manila, he 
ate his first breakfast with General MacArthur and his staff. 
He was never imprisoned in any proper sense of the word. 
He almost immediately made a proclamation to his people — 
and bought diamonds. The proclamation not being satisfac- 
tory, he issued a revised edition — and bought more diamonds. 
He and his wife were established in great style in a residence 
in Manila rented by the United States Government. A sen- 
tinel paraded at the door, but his orders were not to keep 
Aguinaldo in, but to keep Filipinos out; they, like all man- 
kind, hated a traitor, and he feared them. He was nominally 
under the charge of a lieutenant, but he rode out with his wife 
almost daily on the Lunetta in his own private carriage, with- 
out a guard. In other words, he had every honor and luxury 
bestowed upon him that was bestowed upon General Mac- 



64 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

Arthur himself, and the imprisonment of this alleged assassin 
and commander of guerrillas was purely technical. His treat- 
ment from the first hour negatives the contention that he was 
a murderer whose capture might lawfully be attended with the 
assassination of his attendants. 

In answer to the pretense that Aguinaldo and his men were 
not entitled to belligerent rights as claimed by Prof. Woolsey 
in the Outlook, we will call the Professor's attention to his own 
treatise on International Law, at page 231, where he speaks 
of civil war, rebellion, insurrections and revolts, as follows : 

"The same rules of war are required in such a war as in 
any other — the same ways of fighting, the same treatment of 
prisoners, of combatants, of non-combatants and of private 
property by the army where it passes; so also natural justice 
demands the same veracity and faithfulness which are binding 
in the intercourse of all moral beings. Nations thus treating 
rebels by no means concede thereby that they form a state or 
that they are de facto such. There is a difference between 
belligerents and belligerent states which has been too much 
overlooked. * * * [Argument as to belligerency omitted.] 

It being admitted that Aguinaldo was a gentleman of high 
degree entitled to every honor that the Government could 
bestow upon him, including a life of luxury in a private dwell- 
ing, hired by the Government for the use of himself and wife ; 
and it being further admitted that the Philippine Islands were 
governed by the President under the laws of war and not by 
the Constitution of the United States; and Colonel Funston 
having openly boasted in his official report of his perfidy and 
violation of the laws of war, what excuse can there be for 
promoting him to be a Brigadier General in the Regular Army, 
instead of ordering a court martial to try him for perfidy and 
punish him by hanging according to the gravity of the offense ? 

It is only just to the military side of the War Department to 
say that this promotion was made against their protest and 
was purely on the political side of the Government. 



THE WOOLLY HORSE 65 

Thus far we have treated this subject seriously, as though 
the people of the United States had actually bought a gold 
brick worth $20.67 per ounce. It is an open secret in the 
Army, however, that this whole proceeding was a fake; that 
General Aguinaldo captured himself. Indeed, the object and 
most of the details of the spectacular capture were cabled to 
America a week before they happened. As a matter of fact, 
Aguinaldo had been living for seven months at Palanan (see 
Funston's article in Everybody's Magazine, October, 1901) ; he 
was unhonored and without influence. An American post was 
only fifty miles away, and yet he had lived undisturbed in 
peace. Nobody cared enough about him to take the trouble 
to go after him, until he became tired of neglect, and General 
MacArthur concluded that he would be a valuable political 
asset in America. 

During all this time he received "the Manila newspapers with 
more or less regularity." (Aguinaldo's article in Everybody's 
Magazine, August, 1901.) 

He had a bodyguard of about fifty men and a band of music 
with which "on Saturday and Sunday afternoons it was ac- 
customed to give concerts in the plaza in front of my [his] 
house, followed, sometimes, by a dance in the parish house 
next to the church for the young people of the village." These 
were queer proceedings on the part of an "outlaw in hiding" ; 
it is a wonder that that band did not disturb the slumbers of 
the American soldiers in a post only fifty miles away. 

On February 22d, a month before Aguinaldo's capture, the 
Manila New American printed a story under these headlines : 
"Aguinaldo's secrets seized by the police. His last mail with 
cipher captured in this city." The article then indicated 
the exact location of Aguinaldo's camp, with other informa- 
tion relative to him and his men. It is simply preposterous that 
Aguinaldo should not have known everything published in the 
Manila papers or that he should have been captured in the 



66 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

way he was except by collusion. Nothing was done in secret ; 
Funston's rabbit hunt was made with a brass band. 

A client of the writer who has recently returned 
from Government employ in the Philippines states : 
"Deponent has talked with a number of Filipinos who ac- 
companied the expedition to Palanan under Colonel Funston 
for the alleged capture of Aguinaldo. Each told deponent 
that the expedition was prearranged by Aguinaldo himself; 
that he had sent his secretary within the American lines to 
make the arrangements, as he wanted to appear to have 
been captured. He had lived several months in Palanan, with- 
in fifty miles of an American post, without molestation. His 
influence with the natives had long since been spent, and his 
alleged capture was not a matter of any particular importance, 
and this was well known to the authorities in Manila. 

"The fraudulent character of this capture and the sup- 
posed perfidy of his captors were the subject of common con- 
versation and open scorn among the Filipinos and whites of 
the Philippine Islands, and while it seems to have given, in 
America, glorv, renown and preferment to the actors, it re- 
ceived nothing but scorn and contempt in Manila." 

General Funston said in an address at the Lotus Club, March 
8, 1902 : "The country between the place of disembarkation and 
his camp was almost impassable mountains, mountains which 
had never been crossed by a white man except once, by a 
Jesuit priest, about twenty-five years before. The country 
was inhabited mostly by savages, but there was about twenty 
miles north of our landing place a village known as Casiguran, 
a small town of not over three hundred people. * * * 

"It is too long a story to go through — that terrible march. 
We left Casiguran unable to obtain a full supply of cracked 
corn ; we left with what would be about a three-days' ration, 
counting on two meals a day, and with probably one day's ration 
of dried meat. We simply thought we would take chances. If 
the march had lasted another day, if we had been twenty miles 



THE WOOLLY HORSE 6/ 

further away, not a single one of us would ever have got out 
of the country alive. When we finally reached our destination 
some of the Macabebes had given up, some of them were 
crawling on all fours, and I myself had to lie down every half- 
hour for a minute or two, so weak that I could not walk." 

While we swell with pride in reading of the pluck and 
energy of American officers in enduring the horrible priva- 
tions of that journey from Casiguran to Palanan, although they 
were supplied with food (caribou, rice and corn) from both 
places, and had twelve peasants to carry their burdens, never- 
theless we think that Colonel Funston's achievements would 
have shown more brilliantly in contrast had he revised Agui- 
naldo's account {Everybody's Magazine, August, 1901) where 
he says: "There had been a celebration in Palanan that day, 
March 226., on account of the anniversary of my birth, and the 
little village was in gala dress. Arches had been erected, and 
such other decorations were provided as the limited resources 
of the place could supply. A number of people had made the 
Ufty-mile journey from Casiguran to congratulate me on the 
occasion, and we celebrated the day with horse races, dancing, 
serenades, and amateur theatricals. * * * 

"The morning of March 23d was passed in making prepara- 
tion for the formation of a Red Cross League among the 
ladies who had come up from Casiguran for my birthday." 

Oh, ye ladies of America! Meditate upon the heroism of 
the women of Casiguran, who, without twelve peasants to 
carry their bundles, traveled fifty miles over "almost impass- 
able mountains" and endured the horrible privations described 
by Colonel Funston, for no other reason than to celebrate a 
birthday, hear the band play and trip the light fantastic toe. 
We should make all of those ladies Brigadier Generals at once. 

How foolish to pretend to deceive Tagalogs by dressing up 
Macabebes, who are their hereditary enemies, hate them like 
snakes, and speak an entirely different tongue! It would be 
as preposterous successfully to deceive the Tagalogs by put- 



68 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

ting Macabebes in their uniform, as to deceive a canny Scot in 
Edinburgh by dressing up a native of Kilkenny in kilts. 

We call attention, too, to the fulsome praise of the Navy in 
General MacArthur's official report. What did they do that 
any sea-going tug could not have done better? They gave the 
expedition a 6//2-days' ride by sea and landed them about lOO 
miles away from home. This zvas done for secrecy, yet their 
landing near Casiguran was discovered and reported (see the 
New York Herald of May 26, 1901 ) . Indeed, on that shallow 
bay it would be impossible for a luar vessel to approach the 
shore unnoticed. It could be seen for many miles. After the 
capture, this "splendid co-operation" of the Navy gave them 
a day-and-a-half ride back to Manila, and they kept quiet. 

The only reward for this "splendid co-operation" was a bit 
of flattery in the cable to Washington. There were no pro- 
motions. 

May we be unkind enough to call attention to the fact that 
in the grand finale to this spectacular capture General Funston 
and his Lieutenants remained behind and did not cross the 
river at Palanan until twenty minutes or half an hour after their 
eighty Macabebes and their Spanish officers were safely across, 
and had the wily Aguinaldo safely in their power? One would 
have expected the dare-devil Kansan to have been the first to 
risk his precious life in this spectacular climax. He did, of 
course, bravely risk his life by eating shell fish and octopus 
on the way, but the writer has been equally brave in risking 
shell fish at Delmonico's and once tackled the horrible octopus 
in the city of Venice. By the way, why was not an expedition 
of this character entrusted to a Second Lieutenant instead of 
a Colonel? 

America has entered into a period of commanding influence 
in world politics. The time is coming when we are bound to 
demand the enforcement of the Hague Convention in relation 
to humane and honorable warfare. We will then be confronted 
with the official statement of an American General that he. 



THE WOOLLY HORSE 69 

disguised as a prisoner, commanded troops in the uniform of 
the enemy, and, instead of being court-martialed and hanged 
for perfidy, was rewarded with a General's star. Then will 
the United States have to admit, with all due humility, that 
there was no violation of international law, because the cap- 
ture was prearranged, and the uniform episode was but one 
act in a farce comedy ; that no Filipinos on parade were killed 
by enemies in disguise ; no staff officer was assassinated, and 
nobody was injured except the American people in their pride 
in having been sold a gold brick of the alleged value of $20.67 
per ounce, the intrinsic value of which was not even ten cents 
per pound, and which was composed of an alloy the principal 
element of which was politics. 

The Battle of San Juan, July i, 1898. 

This is the most humiliating fraud in recent history — the 
celebrated Battle of San Juan, in the Spanish War of 1898, 
which has given scores of brevets for every dead Spaniard. 

The first act in the drama was to remove every West 
Pointer from heads of departments (excepting the Engi- 
neers and Ordnance, which contain graduates only), because 
West Pointers and contractors are natural born enemies. The 
next act was to put in command of the Army of Invasion an 
officer who was wholly incompetent to serve in a tropical 
climate, weighing 320 pounds and having permanent physical 
disabilities. His record consisted of the fact that he had con- 
tinued to breathe for thirty-three years since the Civil War, 
was a personal friend of the Secretary of War, had no political 
aspirations, and, if Governor of Cuba, could be relied upon to 
bestow concessions in proper channels. 

The new Commanding Officer remained on board of his 
transport five days after the last troops were landed at 
Daquiri. Why, we do not know. There were abundant der- 
ricks and tackle with which to disembark the artillery and 



70 



THE WOOLLY HORSE 




FORT" SAN JUAN AND THE ENTRENCHMENT ON SAN JUAN HILL 



THE WOOLLY HORSE 7 1 

mules. Why could they not disembark Shafter? Why did 
they wait until a dock was built that he might go ashore? 

The facts of the battle are briefly as follows: General 
Shafter's plan of battle seems to have been all right but was 
not carried out. General Lawton was expected to capture El 
Caney by seven o'clock in the morning; then turn to his left 
and form the right wing of the attack on the San Juan hills ; 
the center to be occupied by Wheeler and his cavalry ; the left 
by Kent and the infantry. El Caney was not captured until 
half-past four in the afternoon. In the meantime the Wheeler 
and Kent divisions simply drifted toward San Juan, through 
a dense jungle, of which there had been no reconnoissance, and 
the Spanish skirmish line on San Juan exercised itself at target 
practice from six o'clock in the morning until half-past one in 
the afternoon, simply shooting at the roads and trails where 
the American troops were helpless, in column. 

Is it not high time that some of the mists surrounding the 
battle of San Juan were raised? The War Department, when 
asked how many Spaniards were in Santiago when it sur- 
rendered, and how many Spaniards were killed and wounded 
at San Juan and El Caney, states in a letter that they have no 
records that throw any light on the subject. Prominent officers, 
who have knowledge, give evasive replies. Lieutenant Jose 
Muller y Tejeiro, second in command of naval forces of the 
Province of Santiago, in his history which has been translated 
in part by the Navy Department, gives only 3,000 effective 
Spanish soldiers in and about Santiago on July ist. Escario 
and his column did not break in until the 3d, and there were 
about 2,100 sick in hospital. Their food consisted exclusively 
of rice and water ; their ammunition was scarce ' their artillery 
consisted^ of 13 pieces of antique patterns, some of which they 
did not dare discharge. Santiago had not been prepared 
for a siege. These 3,000 men had over ten miles to cover, and 
were attacked at five different points simultaneously : ( i ) The 
fleet menaced Morro Castle and the Socapa Battery at the 



y^ THE WOOLLY HORSE 

mouth of the Bay; (2) Five thousand Cubans, whose losses 
were heavy — Bonsai says (p. 444) their percentage of loss 
was 50 per cent, greater than the Americans' — were active, 
and harassed them on the west; (3) Aquadores was menaced 
by a demonstration of Michigan troops just landed ; (4) El 
Caney was attacked by about 6,000 men and (5) San Juan by 
about 7,500. 

According to Lieutenant Muller, the San Juan hills were 
occupied by a mere skirmish line of 250 Spaniards. Captain 
Nunez says in his history, also translated in part by the Navy 
(p. 113), "that the advance echelon of San Juan, consisting of 
tivo companies under the command of Colonel Vaquiero, was 
reinforced by another company." The artillery on San Juan 
consisted of two old pieces that looked as if they were a 
hundred years old, mounted on rickety old carriages. They 
were left behind. This echelon of San Juan was attacked by 
7,500 Americans with light batteries and a Catling battery — 30 
to I. The American loss at San Juan, in killed and wounded, 
was more than a thousand by the official figures. The Spanish 
loss was substantially nothing. Every Spaniard killed 
or wounded four Americans. The percentage of American 
loss at San Juan was twice that of the British at the "bloody" 
battles of Tugela River. The Spanish loss is unknown ; but 
was practically nothing. 

General Miles' official report (1898) contains 676 pages with 
a supplement of 44 pages, and the Inspector General has issued 
a report of 158 pages. These contain scores of reports of 
officers who took part in the so-called battle, but a careful 
study of these volumes reveals the fact that a dead Spaniard 
on San Juan is mentioned in only three places and no numbers 
are given in any instance. The block house, of which so much 
has been written, and for the capture of which so many brevets 
have been given, consisted of an old, one-story farm house 
with a few loop holes. A single well-directed shell would have 



THE WOOLLY HORSE 



73 



destroyed it. It was cut up for firewood within a day or two. 
The intrenchments consisted of two short, disconnected ditches, 




MAP 
SAN JUAN HILL 
SANTIAGOOiCUBA 
• }» J» ■!» 

•Ckkf a* MUM- 



EL CAMCY-*- 25^ MiU.. 



waist deep, one to the side and one in front of the block house. 
That in front only was available on the attack, and would not 



74 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

conceal more than from fifty to a hundred Spaniards. The 
trenches had been hastily dug the day before. 

One of the Regular officers, who was one of the first to as- 
cend the San Juan hill and occupy the block house, when asked, 
before the Seventy-first Regiment Court of Inquiry : "What did 
you see on arriving at the top of the hill?" replied "Nothing." 
"Q. Nothing at all? A. Nothing but scenery. Q. No Span- 
iards ? A. Well, a few might be seen in the distance retiring to 
their trenches." The fact is that as soon as the Americans 
formed line of battle and proceeded up the hill at about 1 130 
p. M., the Spanish skirmish line retired to their breastworks 
around Santiago, which were never captured but were sur- 
rendered with the city on July 17th. 

El Caney was a fight : San Juan was a slaughter. At El 
Caney 520 Spaniards were surrounded by about 6,000 Amer- 
icans. They could not get away and believed that capture 
meant torture. They fought like tigers for eight hours ; few 
escaped alive and almost none without wounds. 

About 800 yards in front of the San Juan hills was a small 
stream called Purgatorio Creek, with densely wooded banks. 
It flowed close by a slight rise called Kettle Hill, which was 
also far in front of the San Juan hills. As far as known, Kettle 
Hill had never concealed a Spanish soldier in the history of 
the world, and its only fortification consisted of an old iron 
kettle that gave its name to the Americans. For hours the in- 
fantry had been lying in a sunken road, in advance of Kettle 
Hill. No one thought of going on top of it because there was 
nothing to go after. But when the infantry left the sunken 
road and captured the block house. Colonel Roosevelt and the 
Rough Riders marched from the millet field, behind this hill 
and Purgatorio Creek, and frantically charged up Kettle Hill I 
It was attended with little more danger than an attack on the 
City Hall in New York. The San Juan hills directly beyond it 
had no intrenchments, and had already been abandoned by the 
Spaniards. 



THE WOOLLY HORSE 75 

In short, this slaughter of Americans by a handful of Span- 
iards at San Juan was a case of aimless drifting of the center 
and left wings toward an unexplored front. When the in- 
fantry finally debouched from the jungle and formed line of 
battle in the open space beyond the Acquadores (Purgatorio) 
River and advanced toward the block house on the hill, the 
skirmish line of Spaniards retired to their intrenchments nearer 
the city, and after the infantry had captured the deserted block 
house, Roosevelt and his Rough Riders valiantly advanced and 
captured Kettle Hill that never had concealed a Spaniard and 
had been left behind by our infantry hours before. 

I have not overlooked the marvelous account of this battle 
found in The Rough Riders, by Theodore Roosevelt, and quote , 
from pages 138 and 139: "When we reached the trenches, we 
found them filled with dead bodies in the light blue and white 
uniform of the Spanish Regular Army. There were very few 
wounded. Most of the fallen had little holes in their heads 
from which their brains were oozing; for they were covered-, 
from the neck down by the trenches. * * * Lieutenant 
Davis' First Sergeant, Clarence Gould, killed a 'Spanish soldier 
with his revolver, just as the Spaniard was aiming at one of 
my Rough Riders. At about the same time I also shot one. I 
was with Henry Bardshar, running up at the double, and two 
Spaniards leaped from the trenches and fired at us, not ten 
yards away. As they turned to run, I closed in and fired twice, 
missing the first and killing the second. At the time I did not 
know of Gould's exploit, and supposed my feat to be unique ; 
and .although Gould had killed his Spaniard in the trenches, 
not very far from me, I never learned of it until weeks after. 
It is astonishing what a limited area of vision and experience 
one has in the hurly-burly of a battle." 

On the contrary we should remark that: "It is astonishing 
what a magnified area of vision and imagination one has in 
the hurly-burly of a book." We prefer the statements of 
Engineer Officers who were on the ground that there were no 



y^ THE WOOLLY HORSE 

Spanish intrenchments on Kettle Hill or on the hills occupied 
by the cavalry. These trenches being, then, imaginary, it is 
fair to argue that they were filled with imaginary dead 
Spaniards. 

We are not acquainted with Colonel Roosevelt's optician, but 
we fear that his spectacles were multiparous and permitted him 
to slay, with impunity, many Spaniards that others were not 
able to discover, dead or alive. The Colonel's official reports 
are not so bloodthirsty as his magazine tales, nor does any 
official report suggest the number of Spanish casualties, as did 
those referring to Las Guasimas and El Caney. 

His slaying the fleeing Spaniard less than thirty feet away 
sounds much like murder. No Regular officer found it neces- 
sary to establish his reputation by an acount of exultant blood- 
thirstiness. They accepted the painful duty of fighting the 
enemy as one of the sad necessities of war and sought to win 
no glory by gloating over the widows and orphans they were 
forced to make. Colonel Roosevelt stands out against the lurid 
horizon of war as the solitary autobiographer from the days 
of Caesar till now to write himself down boastingly as a slayer 
of his fellow man, and that, too, at such close range. Why did 
he not close in a little nearer, strike the fleeing Spaniard with 
his revolver, trip him up, or, like the nursery tale, scatter salt 
on his coat tails and bring him to New York in chains to grace 
his triumphal electioneering tours? 'T would have been far more 
effective and convincing. 

We read the memoirs of Napoleon, of Grant and of Sherman 
in vain for blood-thirsty, widow-making accounts. How 
pathetic to dwell on the sight of the future President of the 
United States, writing himself down as a man-slayer ! Other 
great warriors have been forced to speed the fatal bullet or 
thrust the deadly sword, but they have sought to forget it. 
They certainly never boasted of it. But as the official accounts 
and sworn testimonies have been silent as to his "unique feat," 
we are permitted, in kindness to the Colonel, to assume that 



THE WOOLLY HORSE jy 

this cruel boast was meant to refer to the imaginary Spaniards 
in the imaginary trenches, defended by the imaginary battalions 
that would have defended them had the Spanish Government 
not been too poor to transport them from Spain. 

It will be noted that the official reports do not contain the 
same blood-curdling narratives that, later, filled the magazines, 
and it is a well-known fact that, for hours, the Rough Riders, 
after leaving, early in the forenoon, the road which was sub- 
ject to the direct fire from the San Juan hills, passed to the 
right (north) for half a mile into a field of millet, neck high, 
where the Spaniards in the block house had to shoot through 
Kettle Hill in order to hit them ; and the spectacular charge up 
San Juan by the Volunteer cavalry, so vividly portrayed by an 
artist of international repute, consisted of nothing except a 
charge up Kettle Hill that had been left in the rear by the in- 
fantry hours before ; and when, finally, the cavalry straggled 
on beyond Kettle Hill, they reached that part of the San Juan 
hills that had then never had an intrenchment and from which 
the Spanish skirmish line had long since retired to the intrench- 
ments nearer Santiago. 

Having examined under oath about loo participants in the 
San Juan engagement, and having in my possession the sten- 
ographer's transcript of their testimony, I am prepared to 
state that Colonel Roosevelt did not so much as see a Spaniard 
on July I, 1898, and was not in a position where he could see 
one. 

While we speak of cavalry, please remember that there were 
no horses at San Juan. The cavalry had left their horses at 
Tampa, because they could not be taken on board the trans- 
ports without cutting off their legs, and all officers left their 
horses at the rear on July ist. 

We are reminded that when the first shot was fired at Las 
Guasimas, the adjutant of the Rough Riders dashed back to the 
rear, spreading the report that Colonel Wood had been killed 
and Lieutenant Colonel Roosevelt dangerously wounded. Was 



70 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

he court-martialed for cowardice? Xo. Was he reprimanded ? 
Xo. Was he, later, honorably discharged? and did he, as a 
hero of Las Guasimas, write a book? Yes. It is only just to 
Lieutenant Hall, however, to say that his side of the stor\- was 
that he acted under a prearranged plan to furnish the reporters 
with '"copy" and his superior officers with fame, as soon as a 
shot was fired. 

The period between the first and seventeenth days of July, 
when the city surrendered, is one to bring a blush to every 
officer and soldier of the Regular Army and a smile of con- 
tempt for their political associates. It is the duty of good 
soldiers to endure hardship of even.- nature. Battle casualties 
are but a small percentage of war losses, and soldierly quali- 
ties are better displayed during the trying months of a siege 
than in the exciting hour of a charge. 

Major Reade, in his official report (Inspector General's Re- 
port, 1898, p. 102), states that Colonel Roosevelt made this 
statement : '"Twenty-five per cent, of my Rough Riders can't 
carry a pail of water from the creek to the trenches. X'o man 
can decry me or my regiment, but WE MUST ACCEDE to 
the next proposition from the enemy." This marv-elous demand 
was made at headquarters before the enemy surrendered. 

Colonel Roosevelt has never denied this statement that he 
urged upon his commanding officer to let the enemy oft easy 
for the simple reason that one-quarter of his men were sick 
and wanted to go home. It is what a man does on Monday and 
not what he says on Sunday, that counts. 

The round-robin incident was strictly reprehensible. It 
seems to have been favored, however, by General Shafter who 
seemed as anxious to get home as any of his subordinates. The 
telegraphing of this round robin to America by Colonel Roose- 
velt or his press bureau was a breach of discipline of the 
gravest character; but the most serious and disgraceful part 
of this whole proceeding was the fact that officers went about 
among the enlisted men with telegraph blanks, asking if they 



THE WOOLLY HORSE 79 

knew any Congressman or Senator or man of influence in 
Washington, to whom they could telegraph in their names to 
ask his influence to have the command sent home. Such 
conduct needs no comment. Just think of the position of a 
Commanding Officer, with subordinates undermining his 
authority by secret communications with his political superiors. 

It is a pleasing fact to be able to state that no West Pointer 
was in any way connected with any of the breaches of dis- 
cipline and acts of incompetency that disgraced the Santiago 
campaign. They were carefully discriminated against by the 
administration. If this had been a real war, lasting six months, 
every one of the incompetent fossils in command would have 
been retired at his own request and the spectacular political 
officers would have all hurried home to their mothers, leaving 
the commands in younger and more competent hands. 

Of all the gold bricks that have ever been foisted upon the 
American public, that of this so-called Battle of San Juan is 
"the limit," and the worst feature of it is that the American 
people are not willing to hear the truth about it, but hate the 
rrian who suggests the facts. They are like the farmer at the 
Waldorf. Lieutenant Muller desired to have his history of 
the war published in America, and, having had correspondence 
with the writer relative to the disposition of troops and forti- 
fications around Santiago, he asked the writer to obtain a 
publisher. Letters were written to about a dozen of the most 
prominent publishers in America and no one of them would 
consent even to look at the manuscript, stating in substance that 
the American people were not willing to hear that side of 
the story. If that be true, the American people are guilty of 
moral cowardice ; if not true, the publishers have insulted the 
American people. 

Our American soldiers are the best in the world. The per- 
sonnel of European armies cannot be compared with them, 
either in endurance, intelligence or patriotism. There was 
scarcely a regiment before Santiago whose men would not 



8o THE WOOLLY HORSE 

have been willing to rush in and capture the Spaniards with 
their hands, if they had been so ordered. There was scarcely 
a regiment, especially a Volunteer regiment, which did not 
contain privates who were competent to run railroads or loco- 
motives, plan cathedrals or intrenchments, construct telegraph 
lines or ride mules. The men were only too willing to fight 
like tigers by day and dig ditches or repair roads by night. 
They were not only willing to fight for their country's honor, 
but to die for it, in battle or in the hospital. One intelligent, 
persistent American is worth ten wild Indians. There were 
only a few Rough Riders. If Buffalo Bill had never had a 
Rough Rider show, the United States would never have had a 
Rough Rider President. Verily, the strenuous pen is mightier 
than the sword, and modern heroes rush to glory, through 
rivers of ink, not blood. 

Purest patriotism is not spectacular. The engineer in the 
hold of a battleship is far more useful and important than a 
whole company of marines on deck ; and the engineer who, in 
battle, should leave his post in order to have his picture taken 
in the conning tower, should be punished as a deserter. It is 
not patriotism for an Assistant Secretary of the Navy to leave 
a position of trust and usefulness for which he was fitted, by 
some experience at least, to stand behind the men behind the 
guns, in order to join a political regiment for the command 
of which he was wholly unfitted both by disposition and total 
want of experience. 

Austerlitz has been called the most scientific battle in history. 
San Juan was certainly the most unscientific. Nevertheless, 
the victors at Austerlitz were not to be compared in quality of 
material to the Regular and Volunteer troops before Santiago. 
Napoleon never had a corps of subaltern officers that could 
compare with the highly educated military specialists of a 
single American Regular regiment. Better an army of sheep 
led by a lion than an army of lions led by a sheep. The heroes 
at Austerlitz had the advantage of long training under a master 



THE WOOLLY HORSE 81 

teacher. Could Napoleon have had at Waterloo one army 
corps of such material as the Cuban army of invasion or our 
National Guard regiments, tried and annealed by actual 
service, all Europe might have been France to-day. But he 
could not have them. That kind of flower does not bloom un- 
der monarchies. It must be cultivated in the rich soil of free- 
dom and developed under the hot sun of national necessity. 
Should any foreign or domestic foe again threaten our national 
integrity, millions of intelligent bayonets would leap from 
their scabbards, and scores of talented Csesars would lead them 
to battle, all willing to lay down their lives in their country's 
service, without thought of press bureaus or political rewards. 

The graduates of our Military Academy are acknowledged to 
be the most highly educated military specialists of the world. 
There is no Institution in Europe that pretends to rival it.. 
Nevertheless, when a war broke out, these educated men were 
deliberately suppressed. After six months of real war, they 
would, of course, have come to the front. 

It takes as highly educated specialized brains to command a 
regiment as a war ship. Politicians should no more meddle 
with one than the other, and yet, every Senator's son who can 
ride a horse thinks himself competent to command a brigade. 
If it made politicians seasick to ride a horse, the Army would 
be no more afflicted with them than is the Navy. 

By the way, where was Colonel Wood on that desperate 
charge up Kettle Hill? Was he still in the tall grass? or 
was his press bureau asleep? or his artist paralyzed? or was 
he obliged to keep in the shadow while his Lieutenant Colonel 
appeared in the limelight ? It is one of the curiosities of liter- 
ature that the report of "T. A. Baldwin, Lieutenant Colonel, 
Tenth Cavalry, Commanding," at page 326 of General Miles^ 
report, and that of "Leonard Wood, Brigadier General, U. S. 
Volunteers," at page 341, are verbatim the same. If, as alleged. 
General Wood was at the rear, on the highly commendable 
duty of looking after the ammunition, this exactitude of 



82 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

thought and word of the Commanding Officer of the colored 
Cavalry, who was at the front, and his Brigade Commander, 
who was at the rear, should be referred to a select Commit- 
tee of Professors of the occult sciences, as it is a rare instance 
of thought transference or telepathy. Another fact is notice- 
able, that Colonel Roosevelt speaks of having made two other 
reports on the marvelous battle of San Juan, but one of these 
does not appear. Who suppressed it? 

This war has demonstrated that it is far better training for 
Army promotion to be able to cure croup in Washington than 
to devote a lifetime to the study of the science of war; and 
that a Military Governor who will smile on the right contrac- 
tors and spend Cuba's money on political campaigns in the 
United States has a far better military training than in the 
command of troops. It has apparently demonstrated that mili- 
tary training is unnecessary to make a successful soldier; all 
one needs is the friendship of a Senator; political bricks do 
not have to be made of gold ; gilt at ten cents a pound is 
enough. A press bureau is worth more than four years at 
college and twenty years in the field. Nevertheless, the Amer- 
ican conscience, when instructed and aroused, is right, and the 
time will yet come when the American people will swallow their 
pride, and rebuke frauds. Mountebanks will get their coats of 
tar, and confidence men will be indicted by the grand jury of 
public opinion. For, while the people do love a woolly horse, 
they hate a gold brick. 



IV. 

THE LONE HORSEMAN OF SAN JUAN 



(From a publication, in November, 1904, issued as a news- 
paper supplement; one million copies distributed.) 



The Republican Campaign Committee has issued a pam- 
phlet called "Roosevelt's Military Record," which has been 
circulated by the million, and a member of the Rough Riders, 
acting for the Campaign Committee, is sending it to all 
Spanish War veterans, with a statement that the President 
"is now being vilified and abused in outrageous terms for 
political reasons," and states: "I resent the bitter campaign 
falsehoods which are being uttered about him." 

This pamphlet was probably issued as a reply to my article 
in the August number of the "Army and Navy Critic." It is 
needless to say that it is not an answer to any charge con- 
tained in that article. 

In 1900 I issued a brochure on "The Seventy-first Regi- 
ment at San Juan," wherein most of the charges were set 
forth. No one of them has ever been answered. The August 
"Critic" has been issued for nearly three months, and no 
person has attempted to answer it. I will give one thousand 
dollars to any person who will prove that one line of that 
article is not strictly true. 

I repeat the charges : 

1. The block house on San Juan was captured at about 
1 :30 P. M., on July i, 1898, by the Infantry, not by the 
Cavalry. 

2. Colonel Roosevelt did not see a Spaniard on July ist, 
and was not in a position where he could see one. 



84 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

5 Colonel Roosevelt's account of his heroic charge on 
horseback up San Juan Hill is absolutely false. 

4. Kettle Hill, a small rise of ground about 800 yards in 
front of the San Juan hills, never contained a Spanish soldier 
or Spanish entrenchment. 

5. The infantry had lain in advance of Kettle Hill for 
hours before i :30 P. M. They did not take possession of 
Kettle Hill in their right and rear, for no reason except that 
they had no use for an old kettle. 

6. Earlier in the day, the Rough Riders had gone to the 
right of the road to Santiago, for half a mile, and lay for 
hours in the tall grass, neck high, behind Kettle Hill. 

7. After the infantry had left the sunken road between 
Kettle Hill and San Juan, and had captured the block house, 
Colonel Roosevelt and his Rough Riders came out of the tall 
grass and captured the kettle on Kettle Hill. 

8. There were no entrenchments on the San Juan hills, 
except about 100 feet around the block house. Colonel Roose- 
velt's statements in his "Rough Riders," written months after 
the war, do not correspond with official reports, even his own, 
and are absolutely untruthful. 

9. There was no mounted officer or soldier at the capture 
of San Juan, and the Vereshtchagin picture for which Colonel 
Roosevelt is said to have sat, is a deliberate attempt to falsify 
history. 

The Official Report. 

Colonel Roosevelt's official report, found at pages 12 and 
14 of Major-General Miles' Supplementary Report, 1898, con- 
tains the following: 

"Accordingly we charged the block house and entrench- 
ments on the hill to our right against a heavy fire. It was 
taken in good style, the men of my regiment thus being the 
first to capture any fortified position and to break through the 
Spanish lines." (Every word of that statement is absolutely 



THE LONE HORSEMAN OF SAN JUAN . 85 

false.) * * * "After capturing this hill, we first of all directed 
a heavy fire upon the San Juan hill to our left, which was at 
the time being assailed by the regular infantry and cavalry, 
supported by Captain Parker's Gatling guns. By the time 
San Juan was taken a large force had assembled on the hill we 
had previously captured." 

A glance at the map shows that the hill occupied by the 
cavalry was far in the rear of the San Juan hills, and the 
reports of the engineer officers and the official maps are unani- 
mous that it contained no entrenchments whatever, and there is 
no record of its ever having been occupied by the Spaniards. 

A glance at the map will show how preposterous is Colonel 
Roosevelt's claim. (See map, p. 73.) 

Colonel Roosevelt stated in an address to the National 
Guard Association of the State of New York, on February 
18, 1900 (pp. 56, 57, Official Report, N. G., N. Y.) : 

"As for the San Juan fight, it would be an exaggeration 
to say it was a colonel's fight. It was a squad leader's fight. 
No human being in the column knew what he was to do when 
the column started. We moved forward again, crossed the 
river and had to halt within range of the Spanish batteries 
on the hills until we got the order to charge. More by a con- 
sensus of opinion than anything else we went up and took 
the hill." 

This is the official report of this speech to the National 
Guard, but in the actual speech he admitted that he did not 
see a Spaniard; that they did not know that there had been 
a battle until it was over. 

The position of the First Volunteer Cavalry, half a mile to 
the right of the road to Santiago and behind Kettle Hill, is 
indicated by the reports of Leonard Wood, colonel. First U. S. 
Volunteer Cavalry, and T. A. Baldwin, lieutenant-colonel. 
Tenth Cavalry (see pp. 326 and 341 of General Miles' official 
report). These reports are, ^'er&al/fm, the same. One plagiarizes 



86 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

from the other. As General Wood was somewhere in the 
rear, he was probably the offender : 

"After proceeding about half way to the San Juan Hill 
(from El Pozo) the leading regiment (Rough Riders) was 
directed to change the direction to the right, and by moving 
up to the creek to effect junction with General Lawton's divi- 
sion, which was then engaged at Caney, about a mile and a 
half toward the right, but was supposed to be working toward 
our right flank. After proceeding in this direction about half 
a mile, this effort to connect with General Lawton was given 
up, and the First and Tenth Cavalry were formed for attack 
on the East Hill, with the Volunteer Cavalry as support." 

Colonel Wood says in his report of July 6 (p. 342) : "Our 
first objective was the hill with a small red-roofed house on 
it" (Kettle Hill). 

After the occupation of the San Juan hills by the infantry, 
it became necessary to create entrenchments to be captured 
and Spaniards to be killed by the political colonel, and the only 
way to do this was to make a bristling fortification out of an 
old kettle that had been left behind by the infantry hours 
before. 

Colonel Egbert, Sixth Infantry, says in his official report, 
pages 364-5 : "The San Juan Hill fortifications being in plain 
view, about 400 yards distant, while to our right and in pro- 
longation of the road on which we stood was another hill sur- 
mounted by a large painted house. This is the hill subse- 
quently captured by the cavalry division and opposite to which 
their lines extended, though they were not in sight from the 
road. * * * 

"This was the first opportunity offered to efficiently carry 
out General Hawkins' order to enfilade the San Juan Hill, upon 
which my regiment and the detachment of the Sixteenth now 
opened a hot fire, to which the trenches responded, and this 
continued for an hour. It will be observed that except for 



THE LONE HORSEMAN OF SAN JUAN 87 

Captain Whitall's detachment of the Sixteenth the Sixth was 
now entirely alone in its attack on the San Juan hill." * * * 

"Here the Sixth remained, contending with the hill for 
about an hour, but as we were particularly hidden by the hedge 
and protected by a road trench (sunken road) our casualties 
were not heavy. At the same time I was not satisfied with our 
position on the road, which, being oblique to the hill, gave only 
an oblique and comparatively not effective fire. I therefore 
concluded to advance the regiment into the field of high grass 
and weeds lying between our present position and the San 
Juan blockhouse. * * * As they drew nearer we distinguished 
the tall figure of General Hawkins, with his aid, Lieutenant 
Ord, Sixth Infantry, charging at the head of the skirmishers 
and waving their hats. * * * As soon as this could be 
stopped by a signal the mingled troops of the Sixth, Sixteenth, 
Thirteenth and Twenty-fourth swept up and over the hill and 
it was won, Captain Charles Byrne's Company F, and Captain 
Kennon's Company E, of the Sixth, being among the fore- 
most, if not actually the very first, on the summit." 

Captain Whitall, of the Sixteenth Infantry, says in his re- 
port, page 285: "During the entire action from the time 
General Hawkins ordered my company forward, I never re- 
ceived a command from any one until after my company had 
carried the colors to the blockhouse, where it was the first flag 
on the San Juan Hill. At the time of my arrival at the block- 
house on the crest of the hill I could see no other men there but 
those of my company and a few men from other companies of 

the regiment." 

Lieutenant Stedman, of the Sixteenth Infantry, says, in his 
official report (page 282) : "I here ascertained that the other 
companies of my battalion were to my left, in this sunken road. 
1 moved my company to the left and went through an opening 
in a wire fence, which had been cut by a Cuban, who was very 
prominent in the first charge. This was about thirty paces 
from the crossing of the creek. This put me on the right of the 



iio THE WOOLLY HORSE 

front line that started to make the charge across this open space, 
the companies consisting of A, D, E, C and G, Sixteenth In- 
fantry. 

"I led my company across this open space some 600 yards, 
and the charge was made directly in front of the trench occu- 
pied by the enemy. That was a little to the left of the block- 
house directly fronting us, and on the crest of the hill, the only 
fortified Held zvorks near this blockhouse." (See p. 70.) 

Captain L. W. V. Kennon, of the Sixth Infantry, says in 
his official report (page 288) : "Our artillery fire having ceased, 
Company E went up the hill, and was the first organization of 
our army to reach the summit and the fort. A number of 
enlisted men of other companies joined in the advance and 
reached the crest with us. At this time there were a few Span- 
iards in the blockhouse and in the trenches to the flanks, but 
the greater part were in the rear of the fort, retreating to a 
position in rear." 

General Kent says in his official report (page 166) : "Gen- 
eral Hawkins, some time after I reached the crest, reported that 
the Sixth and Sixteenth Infantry had captured the hill, which 
I now consider incorrect. Credit is almost equally due the 
Sixth, Ninth, Thirteenth, Sixteenth and Twenty-fourth regi- 
ments of infantry." 

General Miles' official report contains the reports of scores 
of officers on the battle of San Juan, not one of which bears 
out Colonel Roosevelt's absolutely false report of the battle 
contained in his "Rough Riders." There is not any official 
report of the battle from any source corroborating Colonel 
Roosevelt's official report of the battle. I therefore repeat the 
charge that Colonel Roosevelt has obtained promotion to the 
Presidency of the United States by a report of his own alleged 
heroic acts at San Juan Hill, which reports were knowingly 
false. I repeat there was but one blockhouse, and one entrench- 
ment on the San Juan Hills. These were captured by the in- 



THE LONE HORSEMAN OF SAN JUAN 89 

fantry. This infantry had lain for hours in and around the 
sunken road in advance of Kettle Hill, and after the infantry 
had captured San Juan, Roosevelt and his Rough Riders came 
out of the tall grass, where they had been concealed for 
hours, and went up Kettle Hill, which had never had upon it 
an entrenchment or a Spanish soldier. 

Colonel Roosevelt had had no military experience. He left 
a position in the navy, where he might have been of some 
service, in order to take a spectacular position in the army, 
where he was the laughing stock of regulars and volunteers 
alike. All the world honors a brave soldier, but all the world 
despises false pretences. 

"Roosevelt's Military Record," published by the Repub- 
lican Campaign Committee, is a mere collection of platitudes, 
and the recommendations of Roosevelt for brevet and a medal 
of honor met with no serious consideration. They were re- 
jected. The letters of recommendation are very guarded, and 
no one of them was written by any man who saw the alleged 
heroic charge against the San Juan kettle. Roosevelt says, in 
his "Rough Riders," page 125, that he tried to find General 
Sumner and General Wood and could not. Colonel Mills was 
wounded and out of action long before the charge. Recom- 
mendations, in general terms, by subordinates amount to 
nothing. Such unofficial recommendations may be had for 
the asking. 

The charges contained in the brochure, published in 1900, 
remain unanswered; the charges of the August "Army and 
Navy Critic" remain unanswered. And I repeat, and defy 
any man with knowledge to refute them. 

General Mac Arthur obtained his promotion as major-gen- 
eral by making a report about his maneuvres in the capture of 
the city of Manila, which we now know to have been a sham 
battle, and Admiral Dewey swore before a committee of Con- 
gress that the city had practically surrendered to him a week 



90 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

before and it was arranged that the Spaniards were not to fire 
back. 

Colonel Funston obtained his promotion as brigadier-gen- 
eral upon his own report of his own heroic deeds in the cap- 
ture of Aguinaldo, which we now know to have been put up 
by Aguinaldo himself, who says, in "Everybody's Magazine," 
of August, 1 90 1, that the ladies had come over the day before 
from Casiguran to Palinan to have a dance, thus traversing 
the very road over which Funston passed in his horrible priva- 
tions. 

Colonel Roosevelt has obtained promotions by a false 
report in his "Rough Riders" of his own heroic deeds in an 
imaginary charge on an imaginary horse up an imaginary 
hill against imaginary Spaniards. 



[The writer of these letters to his wife is a prominent 
magazine writer who enlisted in the regulars so as to get to 
the front and see real service. His name will be furnished on 
request.] 

LETTERS FROM A PRIVATE. 

Letter No. i. 

At Foot of San Juan Hill. 

July I, 1898. 

This has been a day of terror and yet this evening finds me 
singularly cool and calm. * * * The fighting started 
about daybreak with an artillery duel, in which our artillery 
seems to have got the worst of it. I hear that Grimes has 
been shelled out of his position on El Pozo and that Capron's 
artillery was worse than useless. You see our artillery was 
using black powder, while the Spanish used smokeless powder. 
So, while we were a perfect mark for them, we could not 
locate their batteries at all. The casualties have been pretty 
heavy. I hear to-night that our division has lost about 350 



THE LONE HORSEMAN OF SAN JUAN QI 

killed and 2,000 wounded. Our regiment lost something over 
100 killed and wounded, but I don't know just how many. I 
thought we would be the whole thing on account of having 
taken this hill, but the adjutant (who is now Lieutenant 
Koehler) says the Rough Riders will get all the credit be- 
cause they have their press agents along. And, what do you 
think, they were not even in the fight. They left the main 
advance column early in the morning, and going off to the 
right got lost somewhere in the chaparral and did not get out 
again until to-night. I just got back from a walk along the 
line and find the army strung out like this: [Letter contains 
a map not thought necessary to reproduce.] 

It is a pretty thin line, but I guess we will be able to hold 
our position. The regulars are simply wonderful as fighters. 
They go at it as if it was sport instead of tragedy, and the 
fact that men are killed and wounded continually don't seem 
to bother them at all. They take it as a matter of course. 
* * * I'm glad I'm a regular. They go ahead and do 
their business without any fuss or feathers. But I'm sorry 
that we will not get any credit for our work. They say our 
charge will make Roosevelt President some day, and that that 
is the only thing he went into the war for — just politics. 
Well, I suppose I shouldn't kick, as I am looking for a laurel 
wreath myself. The adjutant says I'll never be heard of 
unless I should chance to get killed, when I will occupy one 
line in the papers in the list of dead and wounded. * * * 
When I was over on the right fiank about an hour ago the 
Rough Riders were just getting up to the line in the position 
assigned them. Where they had been all day I don't know, 
but the talk is that they were having sport on a hill somewhere 
in the rear. I will probably know more about this to-morrow 
or next day. It is rumored that we will advance again to-mor- 
row and drive the Spanish into the harbor. They retired in 
pretty good order to-day, as they only left eight dead on the 
hill and no wounded, so far as I know. * * * Just how 



92 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

many are in the opposing army I do not know, but it is said 
that there is between 20,000 and 30,000. We have only 17,000 
men on the island, of which 4,000 or 5,000 are volunteers, so 
you see what kind of stuff we are made of. 

Letter No. 2. 
San Juan Hill, July 10, 1898. 

No change since my last letter * * *. There are rumors 
that we will attack the Spanish in the morning. Seems likely 
that we will, as we have received orders to pack rolls and 
haversacks at 4 a. m. to-morrow. This afternoon I went 
along the entire line of our army. Had nothing else to do, 
and I wanted to see just how we were located. This is the 
way we are situated : [Letter furnishes map not deemed neces- 
sary to publish.] 

You will notice a little hill in the rear which I have marked 
"R. R." That is where the Rough Riders did all their ter- 
rible fighting on the first day of the fight. I don't know, but 
honestly believe they never saw a Spaniard over there. I 
hear that it is in all the New York papers that Roosevelt and 
his Rough Riders took San Juan Hill. That is a lie. He 
didn't take San Juan Hill. He didn't even see the hill, and 
he has never been near it yet. We took the hill, and we have 
been on top of it ever since. The actions of that man are the 
laughing stock of the army. He is continually blowing his 
horn, and seems to think he is the biggest man down here. 
If he were not Roosevelt, I believe he would be drummed out 
of camp. It is quite sickening to see the airs he puts on. I 
suppose before the war is over he will be commanding the 
army, and that will mean a through ticket to the Presidential 
chair. It's all politics. The men who did the fighting — the 
regulars — have very little to say. They don't seem to be in it 
for glory. They simply do it as a matter of business. But 
Roosevelt is out for glory alone, and he seems to be taking 



THE LONE HORSEMAN OF SAN JUAN 93 

all he can get. * * * Now he wants to get back to the 
United States (probably to pull some wires). He has done 
nothing but kick, kick, kick for the last three or four days, 
and he has made himself very obnoxious everywhere. He 
kicks because he can't have toast and eggs every morning for 
breakfast. He kicks because he has to sleep on the ground 
instead of a hair mattress. He kicks because his men are 
homesick and want to see their best girls. I'm homesick 
myself, but I'm not kicking, and I haven't heard a kick from 
any one in the regiment yet — not even from one fellow whom 
I helped into a transport wagon to be taken back to the hos- 
pital. He had both eyes shot out, wounds through the neck, 
chest, abdomen, legs and arms, but the only thing he said 
was: "Who's got a pipe handy?" I gave him mine. I didn't 
think he'd lived more than an hour or two, although he had 
lain in the grass three days without attention, but they got 
him into the hospital alive. 



V. 

THE SLAUGHTER OF DREAM ELKS. 

New York, June 27, 1907. 

Rev. William J. Long, 
Stamford, Conn. 

Dear Sir : You take the President too seriously. He is not 
half as black as he paints himself. "Nature faker," "molly 
coddle" and "liar" are merely the phrases of a "barker" allur- 
ing the public into an illusive side show. They are not serious. 
If you would study wild animals in their native woods less, 
and study press agents more, you would understand freaks 
better. 

You misunderstand our President. Words with him merely 
portray dreams, not facts. He belongs to the purely idealistic, 
not to the realistic, school of writers. Only dreamers can 
appreciate dreamers. 

You say : "I find after carefully reading two of his big 
"books, that every time Mr. Roosevelt gets near the heart of 
"a wild thing he invariably puts a bullet through it. From his 
"own records I have reckoned a full thousand hearts which 
"he has known thus intimately. In one chapter alone I find 
"that he violently gained knowledge of eleven noble elk hearts 
"in a few days, and he tells us that this was 'a type of many 
"such hunts ;' in others he says he has been much more success- 
"ful and often far excelled these figures." 

If you but knew the President intimately, Mr. Long, you 
would not condemn him. He is not so bloodthirsty as he 
seems. Those 1,000 hearts were only dream hearts, and 
shooting dream elks is not bloodthirsty, but does make good 
copy for a self-constituted press agent. 



THE SLAUGHTER OF DREAM ELKS 95 

You quote from one of the President's works of fiction: 
"He bore his antlers aloft ; the snow lay thick on his mane ; he 
"sniffed the air as he walked. As I drew a bead his bearing of 
"self-confidence changed to one of alarm. My bullet smote 
"through his shoulder-blades, and he plunged wildly forward 
"and fell full length on the blood-stained snow. 

"I jumped off my horse, knelt and covered the fawn ; as 
"I pulled the trigger down went the deer, the bullet having 
"gone into the back of its head. I felt much pleased with it. 

"My nerves were thrilling and my heart beating with eager, 
"fierce excitement. * * * Drawing a fine bead, I prest the 
"trigger. He did not reel, but I knew he was mine, for the 
"blood sprang from both his nostrils, and he fell dying on his 
"side before he had gone thirty rods. 

"My aim was true, and the huge beast crashed down hill, 
"pulling himself on his forelegs for twenty rods, his hind 
"quarters trailing. Racing forward, I broke his neck. Two 
"moose birds followed the wounded bull as he dragged his 
"great carcass down the hill, and pounced with ghoulish blood- 
"thirstiness on the goutte of blood that sprinkled the green 
"herbage." 

Don't condemn our President as a savage animal, Mr. 
Long. He is not half bad. That was the press agent, writ- 
ing for callow youth; that elk was a dream elk, and dream 
elks do not expire in agony and are never studied by "Nature 
Fakers." They are wholly outside of your realm. 

Above all the President does abhor a "soldier faker," but 
his abhorence goes no further than words. A barking dog 
never bites. The President barks at the wicked trusts, but 
you will notice that none of them have hydrophobia. The 
"big stick" is wielded fiercely until the campaign contributions 
are duly vouched for, then it rests peacefully in the simple 
life. 

Roosevelt and Napoleon were both geniuses ; both were the 
greatest men that ever lived ; they admit it ; each edited bulla- 



96 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

tins of his achievements, and Napoleon differed from his 
modern prototype only in the fact that he actually fought 
battles, killed people and entailed misery on the world, while 
Mr. Roosevelt is a harmless soldier in that he kills, and wades 
in the gore of, dream soldiers only. 

As a captain in the Eighth Regiment of the National 
Guard of New York, he was so literary that he read the com- 
mands out of a book ; his Company liked Laura Jean Libbey 
better; stayed away from drills, and he resigned. At the out- 
break of war, he deserted his post in the Navy as Assistant 
Secretary, where he might have been of some service to his 
Country, to take an irresponsible but spectacular position as 
lieutenant-colonel of a Buffalo Bill regiment, collected from 
space. He was too active as a press agent to learn tactics, 
but that stroke of genius made him President. The people 
do love a persistent * * * but that is an ugly word. 

Mr. Long, please do not be too hard on the President, and 
his slaughter of thousands. They are "dream" thousands. 
The animals that he slaughters are like his dead Spaniards, 
purely imaginary. 

You may say, Mr. Long, that Colonel Roosevelt's account 
in "The Rough Riders" is now known to be absolutely false, 
knowingly false, deliberately false, purposely false, designed 
to deceive for purposes of self aggrandisement, and, therefore, 
wicked and despicable, but, but you must not use ugly words. 

Our great President is a dual genius — a Dr. Jekyll and 
Mr. Hyde — and geniuses are too exalted to be criticised. 

Mr. Hyde is a savage hunter, delighting in the smell of 
blood, depopulating the Great West ; Dr. Jekyll is a tenderfoot, 
with a silver-plated rifle and an outlandish outfit, who can't 
hit the side of a barn — the laughing stock of everybody. 

Dr. Jekyll is religious; Mr. Hyde swears like a trooper. 

Mr. Hyde is a "tough" ; goes to prize fights, learns boxing 
from a professional with a large vocabulary; Dr. Jekyll goes 
to church. 



THE SLAUGHTER OF DREAM ELKS 9/ 

Dr. Jekyll writes wonderful histories of rare literary merit; 
Mr. Hyde writes fiction that should fall into the waste-basket. 

Dr. Jekyll is a reformer, a free-trader, a civil service en- 
thusiast, a trust-buster ; Mr. Hyde is a "stand-patter," violates 
his own civil service rules, and collects a giant campaign fund 
from the wicked trusts. 

Mr. Hyde is a swashbuckler; wading through blood, de- 
populating the earth; Dr. Jekyll decries race suicide, prefers 
the simple life, and charges frantically up Kettle Hill, captur- 
ing two old kettles while the cables are red hot transmitting 
the interpretation of dreams. 

Dr. Jekyll is a citizen of a republic, avoiding foreign com- 
plications, minding his own business ; Mr. Hyde enters into 
diplomatic relations with the Vatican, abuses the Methodists, 
and tries to influence the appointment of a cardinal through 
"Dear Maria." 

Dr. Jekyll has high ideals and always tells the truth ; Mr. 
Hyde * * * dreams, and the papers always send two 
reporters at least to get the dreams, because the interpretation 
generally changes over night, and a single reporter would be 
denounced as an Ananias next day. 

Dr. Jekyll prates about a square deal and Mr. Hyde sees 
that you don't get it. 

Well, my dear Mr. Long, you may fill out the list of con- 
trasts. Be sure that everything that Dr. Jekyll claims to be^ 
Mr. Hyde is not. But don't be too serious with genius, and 
when you attack a dual personality, please differentiate. Be- 
sides, a genius has a right to slaughter any number of dream 
elks, imaginary Spaniards, or real reputations of conscientious 
and devoted men, if only genius can step up one step higher 
into the limelight on the corpse of the slaughtered character. 
Yours very truly, 

Alexander S. Bacon. 



VI. 

IMPERIALISM. 
(The Army and Navy Critic, September, 1904.) 

A representative republic is the only just and rational 
government among equals. 

When a republic becomes imperial — assuming the role 
of ruler over inferior or subject nations — it is the most 
brutal of masters. An individual tyrant is restrained by 
fear of assassination; a collective tyrant is practically 
unrestrained. 

An Expanded Republic adopts children; an Imperial 
Republic buys slaves. 

While the strong arm of a despot may govern success- 
fully a nation of criminals or slaves, in a republic where 
the people rule, the people must be virtuous and patriotic 
or the republic will fall. Only homogeneous nations are 
strong. 

"For the nation and kingdom that will not serve Thee 
shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted." — 
Isaiah 60; 12. 

Professor Draper in his "Intellectual Development of 
Europe" devotes two large volumes to demonstrate his theory 
that families, nations and peoples are in all respects like indi- 
viduals. They are born, develop, mature and die. They pass 
through child-hood, youth, manhood and old age. Some die 
early, some are cut off by accident or crime, some live for 
centuries ; but they all die. Both in their birth and develop- 
ment, they are subject to circumstances of heredity and envir- 
onment just like an individual. Nations have character; adopt 
ideals and change them. He proves this theory to his own satis- 



IMPERIALISM 99 

faction by discussing national development in the history of 
the peoples of Europe. Without endorsing Dr. Draper's the- 
ory, we use it for illustration. 

The most dangerous period in a man's life is when just 
budding into manhood. The passions are at their height, am- 
bition is boundless, experience limited, conceit unbearable. At 
this period the young man knows more than he ever will again. 
He thinks that he has been favored with more knowledge by 
intuition than his parents have acquired in a lifetime of study 
and experiment. Young manhood is the era of great deeds, 
of great crimes, of desperate chances, of changing beliefs. He 
is like an unbroken colt. In training him for service, we do 
not break his back, but seek to direct his overflowing energies 
into right channels and control them with a curb. This pro- 
cess is unpopular with the colt, but is applied by his best friends. 
Whether a young man shall successfully pass this period when 
he first discovers his strength of muscle and brain, will depend 
upon his environment and training — the stability of his char- 
acter. It will depend very largely upon his accepted ideals 
and his fidelity to them. Consciously or unconsciously, every 
boy has selected some one whom he admires — whose character 
he seeks to copy, and in every crisis he asks himself involun- 
tarily the question: "What would he do?" If a young man's 
early training has been firmly grounded in strong faith and a 
correct code of morals, his ship of character will sail safely 
over these dangerous rapids into the smooth waters of m.iddle 
life ; if faith be weak and morals inert, he is apt to lose his rud- 
der and founder on the rocks. As with a young man, so with a 
young nation. 

As we are not gifted with prophecy, we know of no better 
way to determine the future of our own country than by com- 
paring present conditions and tendencies v/ith the precedents 
of history. 

The American Republic is now in a transition period, pass- 
ing from youth to sturdy young manhood — the age of heroic 



100 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

deeds, revolting crimes and changing ideals. During the late 
Spanish war it jumped into the arena of world politics as a 
full-fledged warrior. It has just discovered its strength as a 
young giant. As a nation, we have had our ideals and are, 
apparently, now changing them. The problems now confronting 
the republic are exactly those that confront a young man on 
entering the threshold of a life work. He may follow his 
ideals, or select new ones. Everything depends upon his 
stability of character. Young men and young nations are 
fickle and conceited. Their future depends, not so much upon 
their past, as upon a present determination to stand by their 
early teachings — to cut the mother's apron strings or tie them 
tighter. 

To no country do we so often go for precedents as to 
Greece. The Athenian republic by its intellect and patriotism 
stamped its character upon the civilization of subsequent ages. 
As long as Athens was free, and as long as the people ruled 
through popular assemblies, she developed in literature, science 
and art, and dictated the public opinion of the civilized world. 
In her magnificent struggles to preserve her liberties, she dis- 
played the most exalted heroism and beat back the hosts of 
oriental invaders that threatened to stamp out the world's 
civilization as effectually as the Turk has since stamped out 
the former intellectual supremacy of Constantinople. But a 
period came in the history of Athens when it became aggres- 
sive. It raised a large army and burdened itself with debt for 
the purpose of conducting an unjust war against Syracuse. 
The Athenian Republic aspired to be imperial and rule over 
its neighbors. From the date of the destruction of its army in 
Sicily, Athens became insignificant, both politically and intel- 
lectually, and the Athenian was thereafter as much despised 
for his sycophancy as he had formerly been honored for his 
integrity and strength of character. The would-be imperial 
republic of Athens died in disgrace. 

Rome was a republic. After a while the sturdy little peo- 



IMPERIALISM lOI 

pie of the Seven Hills became ambitious to rule over their 
neighbors; they succeeded, and, in course of time, the assem- 
blies of the people gave way to the dominant influence of a 
senatorial oligarchy and the republic was governed by a senate 
of rich men. 

After terrible struggles to preserve its liberties in the Han- 
nibalic wars, Rome ceased to be a republic in fact. It became 
a republican empire dominated by a wealthy senate. Money 
was king. An imperial republic ruled the world. The title 
of Roman citizen was the highest honor, but to be a Roman 
was to be a brute, and the world has never known a more bru- 
tal master than the imperial republic. Provinces submitted, 
but provinces hated, and the bloody massacres of Marius and 
Sulla were the natural forerunners of the invasion of the 
Gauls, those sturdy barbarians who resembled the Romans of 
the true republic and who easily trampled under foot the effemi- 
nate fops of the empire. The imperial republic of Rome died 
in blood. 

The heroes of republican Greece were Miltiades and Socra- 
tes. The heroes of republican Rome were Cincinnatus and 
Scipio Africanus, but neither Greece nor Rome had stable 
national characters founded on correct religious principles 
and habits of pure morality, and when they had developed the 
strength of manhood, they forsook the ideals of their 
youth and worshipped Alexander and Caesar, the apostles of 
force. 

The French republic of 1792 had no inspiration save hatred 
to its oppressors. It saw no avenue to liberty save through 
blood. It had no religious training, no curb to restrain the 
passions of young manhood. The colt remained unbroken. 
The horrors of the Reign of Terror were founded in the infidel 
writings of Voltaire and Rousseau. The French Republic be- 
came imperial and triumphed over and ruled its neighbors. It 
soon threw off its mask and became an empire. The French em- 
pire simply worshipped its founder and hero, but when that 



102 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

hero was humiliated at Waterloo, many of the French veterans 
who had accomplished heroic marvels under the leadership of 
a military genius, became wandering vagabonds on the face 
of the earth. The veterans fell with their ideal. The imperial 
republic of France died in blood. 

The Swiss republic has endured for three centuries — but 
Switzerland has never aspired to be imperial and rule over its 
neighbors, and the true republic of Switzerland still lives. 

The new American republic was born subject, like an indi- 
vidual, to circumstances of heredity, modified by environment. 
It inherited the sturdy virtues of the Puritan on one side and 
the easy virtue of the Cavalier on the other. Fortunately, 
Providence developed for the nation a heroic ideal. Just 
south of the Potomac there lived an aristocrat, who had in- 
herited all the salient virtues of both Puritan and Cavalier, and 
had developed them, even in the abhorrent environment of 
slavery. All discordant elements recognized him as the ideal 
American, He was in sympathy with both North and South, 
and his deep religious nature and his exalted character gave 
him the confidence of all. 

We call him the greatest American : Yet he was a General 
who never won a battle ; he triumphed through defeat ; a states- 
man who was guided by his Cabinet ; his statesmanship was 
unequalled. In one respect he was the greatest man in his- 
tory : he was a MAN, He had a stable character ; he was true 
to his ideals. He might have been the first King of what would 
now have been the greatest of Kingdoms, but he was true to 
his principles and rejected the tempting ofifer. Napoleon, when 
tempted, took a crown, and when he fell, his empire fell. Wash- 
mgton, when tempted, rejected a crown, and when he died his 
republic lived on. 

The conflicting influences that fought for dominance in 
the youth of the republic grew side by side ; each trod upon 
the toes of the other until, in 1861, the irrepressible conflict 
came and the flag' was washed clean of the sin of slavery and 



IMPERIALISM 103 

floated over a free and united people, wherein the influences 
of the Puritan ancestors prevailed. All the better instincts 
of the boy triumphed. A century of marvelous development 
has demonstrated the fact that a representative republic is 
the only just and rational government among equals. 

The character of the new republic seemed then to be an- 
chored securely in the principles of religion and morality. The 
Declaration of Independence and Washington's Farewell Ad- 
dress seemed to be the texts on which all argument must be 
based, and the life and character of the unselfish and consist- 
ent Washington seemed to be the only ideals of the nation; 
national policies seemed to be dominated by the answer to the 
question: "What would Washington have done?" 

But the youth now appreciates the strength of young man- 
hood. He has grown strong, restless, ambitious, impudent and 
conceited. He has outgrown Washington's advice. The Dec- 
laration of Independence was simply food for infants. He 
knows by intuition more than his parents knew by study and 
experience. The fatal hour has come. Will the new Greece 
follow Miltiades or PhiHp? Will the new Rome follow Cin- 
cinnatus or Cfesar? Will America follow Washington or 
Funston? Will the young man adhere to the ideals taught 
from a mother's knee, or will he select a new ideal founded 
in brute force? 

Does the Constitution follow the flag? Is every American 
a citizen, or are some Americans subjects? Will the people 
rule or are we driving towards an oligarchy of wealth, with 
the seat of power in a purse-proud Senate ? The tendencies of 
the last three years are unmistakable. There has been a posi- 
tive revolution. Public sentiment, always fickle, has turned a 
complete summersault. Four years ago, we rejected Hawaii. 
Now we have a mania for coaling stations all over the world. 
The proud distinction of being an American must be confined 
to the American continent, and the imperial American republic 
may own nations and peoples, with or without their consent. 



104 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

We are drifting toward an imperial republic that enj-oys the 
sensation of ruling over its neighbors. 

Present American conditions are so remarkably similar to 
those of Rome during the generation following the Hannibalic 
wars as to command attention as a solemn warning. America 
had her Appomatox, Rome her Zama. Each had a life and 
death struggle. Each prevailed. Each was then freed from 
dangers near home. Each then developed its commerce and be- 
came enormously rich. In each a few citizens accumulated phe- 
nomenal and unprecedented fortunes, while the millions re- 
mained poor. In each, the popular assemblies almost impercepti- 
bly lost their influence, and the senate of wealthy men absorbed 
all real power while retaining republican forms. Each became, 
or may become, imperial with subject provinces which fur- 
nished revenues. Present American tendencies see their frui- 
tion in Rome. Shall the tendencies develop or will the warn- 
ing be heeded and the republic return to its early principles? 
The next few years will detennine the character and destinies of 
the republic. 

A bronze statue in the Forum bore the simple inscription: 
"To Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi." Cornelia prided 
herself, not because she was the daughter of Scipio, but because 
she was the mother of two reformers who died trying to stem 
the tide of imperialism and turn back the people to the sturdy 
virtues of the republic. They failed, but their names are 
immortal. 

The educated Filipino in meditating upon the first century 
of American growth, sees how effectually the young republic 
has civilized its Indians — civilized them into Heaven on the 
theory that the only good Indian is a dead Indian. He sees 
how they have civilized and enfranchised the negro so as to 
permit a few whites to do the voting for him. He reads of 
lynchings and burnings, and barbarous crimes unpunished, and 
reflects upon the Philippine future when Anglo-Saxon influ- 
ence shall dominate over what they deem a subject race under 



IMPERIALISM 105 

a subject government. He remembers that republics are no- 
toriously expensive ; that parties and bosses are maintained by 
corruptly creating unnecessary offices and filling them with 
partisans. He may know that 11 per cent, of all officeholders 
sent to Alaska have been indicted and the last Grand Jury not 
yet heard from. He learns of the very prompt defalcation in 
Havana and frauds in Manila and reflects upon the condition 
of his native land when these influences shall be permanent. 
Will it then be a serious offense to steal from a Tagalog treas- 
ury or to burn at the stake a few Macabebe peasants? He 
remembers how the Roman senators increased their wealth and 
clinched their power by being appointed tax gatherers in prov- 
inces, and, reasoning from precedent, he shudders at the pros- 
pect of his Country becoming a Romanized American province. 
He justly argues from the lessons of history that an imperial 
republic will become the most brutal of masters. 

We have before our eyes two pictures. In one the two 
great Anglo-Saxon nations are empires. Their armies over- 
run the world, and their rulers — be they called kings or presi- 
dents — force obedience at the bayonet's point. They have pre- 
vailed, and the whole world is civilized and at rest, as in the 
days of Augustus when the doors of the temple of Janus were 
closed in universal peace. But that universal peace becomes 
universal hate, and, as in times past, Roman cruelty decorated 
the Appian Way with 5,000 Romans on crosses after the 
uprising of Sparticus, so, under the new reign of universal 
dominion, Anglo-Saxon cruelty may rule the world in fear, 
until an upheaval of barbarians, with less knowledge but with 
more rugged virtues, may in turn, destroy this new govern- 
ment of force. Will the American republic die in blood? 

"For the Nation and Kingdom that will not serve Thee 
shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted." 
Isaiah 60; 12. 

On the other hand we see another picture, where the giant 
young American republic overcomes its temptations. As 



I06 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

Washington thrust aside the temptation of a crown and was 
true to his principles, so may the new, mature republic put 
aside its temptations and declare that the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence shall be the guide of its manhood and old age, as 
well as its youth ; that the object of government is the better- 
ment of all its subjects; that nations are strong only when 
homogeneous and bound together in love. 

We see the new republic grown rich and powerful and 
dominant among the nations of the world, extending the Mon- 
roe Doctrine to Republics in both continents, until all tyrants 
shall exist only in a faint memory and every nation shall be 
homogeneous and free, looking for example and advice to the 
Great Republic in whose protecting care the world is at peace 
under the dominion of love. Shall the American republic live 
forever ? 

In one instance every American will be like the imperious 
king who despises the abject subject who fawns upon him; in 
the other, every American will be a man mingling as an equal 
among his associates, who look up to him with honor and love 
by reason of his intrinsic worth. In the one picture we see 
Imperial America dominating the world under the doctrine 
of force ; in the other, we see Republican America dominating 
the world under the doctrine of love. 

In one picture Imperial America denies to its subject prov- 
inces all rights and privileges under the Constitution except 
such as it may condescend to grant ; in the other we see Ex- 
panded America, with every American — live he in New York, 
Guthrie, San Juan or Manila — an equal under, and protected 
by, every clause of the Constitution, as a matter of absolute 
right. In one picture Expanded America has adopted chil- 
dren into the household : in the other. Imperial America has 
bought slaves to serve the household. 

If the Constitution marches abreast of the flag, if every one 
who owes allegiance to the stars and stripes is entitled to the 
benefits of the Bill of Rights and every other clause of the 



IMPERIALISM 107 

Constitution, there can be no Imperialistic Republic to bully 
the world. On the other hand an Expanded Republic will scat- 
ter its blessing of liberty everywhere. One tendency would 
produce one or two great empires ruling many peoples — a 
political trust, where all countries work for the benefit of an 
Anglo-Saxon board of directors; the other would create as 
many co-operative republics as there are homogeneous peo- 
ples, with constitutions appropriate to their needs, each using 
its political machinery and working for the benefit of all, mu- 
tually assisted and protected in self government. 

We do not need the Filipinos ; they need us ; the benighted 
races of Asia need us. Japan has progressed as far in civili- 
zation in thirty years as our ancestry did in 300 years. But 
they imitated while we created. The object lesson of a genuine 
republic in the Philippines — a state or territory of a genuine 
republic — might revolutionize the hundreds of millions in Asia 
in a single generation. The opportunities of an Expanded 
Republic are boundless. If we remain true to the ideals of 
youth, this generation may see all nations republics, "Liberty, 
Equality and Fraternity" a universal motto, freedom of wor- 
ship and equal taxation unquestioned, the Gospel of love, as 
promulgated in the Sermon on the Mount, presented for ac- 
ceptance to every human being and a millennium of peace near 
at hand. Our responsibilities in this world crisis are tre- 
mendous. 

We have reasoned thus far from the standpoint of Profes- 
sor Draper, who assumed his theory to be true that nations and 
peoples are like individuals; they all must die. But Professor 
Draper forgot one marked exception to his rule. For cen- 
turies the Jewish race vibrated between good and bad ideals. 
When they obeyed Jehovah, they prospered ; when they fol- 
owed a bad king they were in distress. But since the great 
punishment of the captivity in Babylon, no Jew has been an 
idolator. He has been true to his God, and the Jewish people 
alone, among the peoples of history, have been preserved, 



I08 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

while dwelling as hopeless minorities among hostile majorities. 

May we not reason, therefore, that the American republic 
may be preserved if it shall be true to the principles that domi- 
nated it in national childhood and in national youth, when it 
stopped sowing its wild oats and threw off the sin of slavery? 
And, if in adult manhood, our Country shall still be firm in its 
principles and, like Washington, be true to early ideals, who 
shall say that the American people shall not be the John the 
Baptist of a millennium of peace, and endure forever, first 
among equals in a wide world of republics? 

It is glorious to have a lion's strength; 'tis cruel to use it 
like a lion. 



VII. 

HOW TO CREATE A PANIC. 
(Address at Banquet, Boston, May 9, 1908.) 

Is the Republic in danger? If so, what is the disease? and 
what the remedy? It is not enough to say that Republics are 
inherently weak and short lived, on the theory that the good 
die young. They have shown the same virility as monarchies, 
and we deem it an axiom that a representative republic is the 
only rational government among equals. 

If we reason from the analogies of history we find that 
the Republic of Athens soon fell, but Athens wanted to rule 
over somebody; sent an army of conquest in an unjustifiable 
war against Syracuse; was defeated; and its influence was 
soon lost. It tried to "boss it" over its neighbors and the 
neighbors wouldn't stand it. The Republic of Athens died 
young — died in blood. 

Rome was comparatively prosperous for some centuries— 
as long as it was poor. When it became rich it died— died in 
the bloody massacres of Marius and Sulla. The republic died 
of a disease, contracted while "bossing it" over its neighbors. 
Neither of the ancient republics was a "government among 

equals." 

America has recently acquired a tendency to lord it over 
somebody, but thus far the symptoms are not dangerous, be- 
cause our subject nations are weak, and cannot well fight back 
and are not valuable enough to excite the cupidity of others. 

Rome Three-Fourths Slave. 

By the defeat of Hannibal at Zama, B. C. 202, Rome de- 
stroyed its only hindrance to universal power, and in one gen- 



no THE WOOLLY HORSE 

eration Rome expanded its sphere of influence from Italy to 
the world. Within that single generation it became enor- 
mously rich, with its wealth concentrated in the hands of the 
few — mostly Senators. Three-fourths of the population were 
slaves. 

The drift toward anarchy and ultimate absolutism through 
the corruption of wealth was fully appreciated by the reform- 
ers of that day. The Gracchi and others, like good doctors, 
correctly diagnosed the malady as "corruption of wealth," and 
as fatal. They tried the correct remedies and attempted to 
turn the government back to the people and the people back to 
the early virtues of the Republic, but purchased mobs threw 
their bodies into the Tiber. 

In like manner our Civil War destroyed the last hindrance 
to our prosperity and world-wide influence. Like Rome after 
Zama, in one generation after Appomatox the United States 
has become enormously rich, with the wealth concentrated in 
the hands of a few, and our sphere of influence is now the 
world. Thus far the parallel is striking. Are we drifting 
toward absolutism? 

The era of reform is now on. The reformers are good 
doctors, see all the symptoms of the disease, appreciate the dan- 
gers, and are applying the correct remedies of agitation. Will 
the people throw their bodies into the Hudson? 

What is the diagnosis of our country's ills in 1908, and 
what the remedy? 

Wealth in Hands of Few. 

During the Middle Ages, the struggle for centuries lay 
between the feudal barons and the king. Were certain sub- 
jects to become greater and more powerful that the govern- 
ment itself? That was the problem, and it took centuries to 
suppress powerful and dangerous subjects and establish the 
strong central governments of Modern Europe. 

To-day — one generation after Appomatox — the United 



HOW TO CREATE A PANIC III 

States is the richest nation on earth. Our wealth is estimated 
at one hundred and seven billions of dollars, an incomprehensi- 
ble sum. In 1890 our wealth was sixty-five billions, England's 
forty-five, France's forty-three and Germany's thirty-four. 

Moreover, our wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few, 
and they are specially represented in the Senate. Over one-half 
of our people die in debt. One per cent, of the people own more 
than one-half of the wealth, i.e., one per cent, own more than all 
of the other ninety-nine per cent, put together, a greater in- 
equality than ever existed in Rome. One American is the rich- 
est man that ever lived. Without doubt his wealth is over one 
billion of dollars, or about one-one-hundredth of all the wealth 
of the richest country on earth. He could have bought out Croe- 
sus several times over and have all Asia Minor left. Person- 
ally amicable, uneducated and unostentatious, he has devoted 
his energies not to politics, nor to silly display, but to mere ac- 
quisitions—apparently contented with the simple pleasure of 
piling up more and more. With his gigantic fortune he could 
become more dangerous than the robber barons of old. No 
nation in Europe could to-day endure the menace of so power- 
ful a subject. With one-tenth of his income, he could buy up 
every convention, get joint nominations for President and be- 
come a perpetual John D., and then 

Well, thank fortune, our Croesus has indigestion and is 
not ambitious. Our conditions are not yet ripe for this ex- 
travagant hypothesis. 

A Million Brutuses. 

While three-fourths of the people of Rome were slaves, 
nearly four-fourths were ignorant and vicious. Caesar, who 
gave his name to the office of perpetual ruler, was talented, 
learned and wise, and mild as compared with Marius, or Sulla 
or Augustus ; yet there was a Brutus. 

Our problem is not the same as in Rome. An examination 
of conditions shows that the parallel is inapt. We have no 



112 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

slaves, but have a million Brutuses. Our common people are 
educated and moral, and exalt virtue and learning, not brute 
force and cunning. The danger of the republic does not lie in 
individual fortunes, however great or tainted. They will soon 
change hands and be divided, A Ryan, with his all-powerful 
influence at Washington, will get young Rockefeller's wealth 
if he keep in the game. 

The menace of individual fortunes is but a differential com- 
pared with that of the accumulated capital, or rather the ac- 
cumulated ready cash, of giant corporations, especially insur- 
ance companies and banks, where irresponsible directors han- 
dle the millions belonging to others, and become enormously 
rich by juggling other people's money. Our danger lies prin- 
cipally (i) in the insurance companies and in the banks, their 
tools, and (2) the public service corporations, all enjoying spe- 
cial privileges akin to monopolies through the favor of legis- 
lation. Their most valuable assets being legislative privileges, 
they must own the legislatures or discontinue illegal practices 
that give enormous profits. 

Our Great Criminals. 

I venture to say that we would have no "Wall Street." so- 
called, and no corrupt political machines, were it not for these 
corporations which owe their existence to legislation, grow rich 
under special privileges secured by legislation, and which must 
own Legislatures in order to exist at all, and exercise their 
present illegal methods, and must utilize Wall Street and poli- 
tics in carrying out their schemes. These conditions are not 
old ; they may be said to be the growth of the last twenty years. 

The real danger to the republic lies in gigantic corporations 
controlling ready cash, and being controlled by irresponsible 
directors who do not own their own companies. This condi- 
tion could not exist without "Wall Street," where the biggest 
fish are eating up the big fish, and where by the manipulation 
of margins (through the instrumentality of bank loans), great 



HOW TO CREATE A PANIC IIJ, 

corporations are controlled by those who do not own them. 
It takes an immense amount of ready cash to keep "Wall 
Street" going, and carry the 90 per cent, not put up with the 
broker on a ten per cent, margin transaction. 

The great criminals of this generation are the respectable 
financiers and certain respectable lawyers who devise schemes 
for them and keep them out of jail; and the most fruitful field 
for their operations is the three great insurance companies 
which, created by law, are yet the most dangerous subjects of 
the republic, and should be suppressed, or, at least, curbed. 

They are too rich, too large, too powerful to be safe 
subjects, and too unscrupulous. Small companies are not 
dangerous, and to keep them within bounds, no company should 
be permitted to establish agencies and do business outside its 
own State, where it can be adequately supervised. 

Twenty Years of Crime. 

Tontine or deferred dividend policies were conceived in in- 
iquity and issued under false and fraudulent representations 
amounting to larceny. Legitimate, economical insurance would 
cost the people one-half less than tontine rates. By a career of 
twenty years of crime, the three great insurance companies, con- 
trolled by irresponsible people, have collected assets of about 
$400,000,000 each and keep on hand about $20,000,000 each in 
ready money, which they distribute among banks and trust 
companies which they have created and control. [Equitable, 
1905 : "Cash in banks and trust companies at interest $22,651,- 
666.82," besides "loans secured by bonds and stocks $10,805,- 
000."] With this cash they "are" Wall Street and politics and. 
control Legislatures. 

The insurance companies are only typical. Other public 
service corporations are in the same category. The "big six" 
that own New York are the three great insurance companies, 
New York Central, Traction and Gas. Without them there 
would be no Wall Street, no modern politics. How is this ? 



114 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

Under present conditions the officers of the great corpora- 
tions can make themselves enormously rich, with absolutely no 
limitations to their wealth. They can stack the cards and bet 
on four aces all the time, and get takers as long as the people 
are ignorant of their methods, and the law permits the game 
to go on. 

To allow their shell game to continue, it is, first of all, abso- 
lutely necessary to own the Legislature and thus get such laws 
as they need, prevent their repeal and suppress or direct in- 
vestigations. To own a Legislature takes money — secret 
money — currency, not checks, and secret manipulation. The 
tools are Wall Street and politics. How is it done? 

An Enormous "Yellow Dog" Fund. 

First, there must be an enormous "yellow dog" fund, and, 
generally speaking, this fund does not appear on any books 
and can never be traced. How is it obtained? Do not think 
for a moment that the directors ever pay it out of their own 
pockets. These corporations control over $100,000,000 of 
ready money on deposit in their own subsidiary banks and 
trust companies. With this immense fund under control, they can 
create Wall Street fluctuations arbitrarily. Acting in concert, 
they send word to their banks : "Make money scarce. We borrow 
(tie up) $50,000,000 for a week." This immense sum being 
withdrawn, money immediately becomes "scarce," "has gone 
West to move the crops," "the banks are below the legal re- 
serve." The broker, carrying stocks on margin, comes to renew 
his loans. The loans are "called" nearly every day, so that the 
banks can compound their interest. The banker says, "No 
money," "below the legal reserve ; can't renew your loan." 
"What!" says the broker, "after carrying my loan for six 
months you refuse to renew !" The broker is obliged to sell ; 
stocks tumble ; money soars from 2 to 100 per cent, per an- 
num. At the end of a week the directors buy in the stocks with 



HOW TO CREATE A PANIC II5 

the "borrowed" money. Money now becomes plenty, stocks 
soar, interest goes back to 2 per cent., the panic is over, the 
directors sell, and there is your yellow dog" fund of millions 
without a trace of it on the books. What do they do with it? 

A "statesman" is nominated in a strong Republican dis- 
trict. Under our system of politics his election is sure. He 
will get a salary of $1,500 from Albany. He goes to No. 49 
Broadway and gets $2,500 for "campaign expenses." He un- 
derstands conditions and wages his whole campaign in his 
own trousers' pocket. No guilty dollar escapes. If it is his sec- 
ond term and he has been useful, he gets $5,000, If he is a 
Democrat, he goes through the same program with the ac- 
credited agent of his party. If the district is doubtful, the 
money is divided. No crime has been committed, nobody has 
been bribed, no transaction has been had with an elected offi- 
cial. But whom will the legislator serve : the master who pays 
him $1,500, or the master who pays $2,500? The Republican 
boss and the Democratic boss go to the same man for the 
money — to the agent of the Corporations syndicated for poli- 
tical purposes and controlling both parties. 

Agents of the "Big Six." 

There can be no political boss who is not the financial politi- 
cal agent of the "big six." Why was the bill introduced into the 
New York Legislature to revoke the charter of the Mercantile 
Trust Company owned by the Equitable Life? Was it not 
merely a "big stick" to force the "financial agency" from the 
hands of an aged and decrepit boss into the hands of a young, 
vigorous leader who had gained control of the machine and 
found himself powerless without the agency? There would be 
no offensive political boss but for the immense campaign funds 
disbursed through him, and any boss is powerless unless he is 
the accredited agent of "the system." These funds are not 
spent in legitimate campaigns of education, but, like the Har- 
riman-Roosevelt fund, are used on the day of election. 



Il6 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

The Remedy : Up to 1890 the State owned the corporations. 
Since that date the corporations have owned the State. The 
laws of 1848 provided that no corporation should own stock 
in another corporation. That law was repealed in the interest 
of the lawless corporations, and sleight-o'-hand "holding com- 
panies" sprang up, without which trusts would be practically 
impossible. 

Re-enact the law of 1848 and go further: Make the owner- 
ship of stock by any corporation illegal and prevent any 
corporation from doing business in the State of New York, 
whose stock is owned by any other corporation. Prevent any 
corporations, including banks, from holding stock as collateral. 
This would put Wall Street out of business, as the brokers 
could not borrow the 90 per cent, from individuals. 

Transactions "on margins" would be practically nil. The 
great railroad corporations would then have their stock held 
by real owners, and would be controlled by those whose inter- 
ests lie in the company's prosperity, not by gamblers, who hold 
it on a 10 per cent, margin through banks, who loan the peo- 
ple's money and thus enable the gamblers to control the cor- 
porations out of which they can make more money by wreck- 
ing than by building up. A railroad may be controlled by put- 
ting up with a broker 10 per cent, of 51 per cent, of the par 
value of its stock. 

Would Bring Real Prosperity. 

If there were no holding companies, there would be no 
trusts, for Captains of Finance could not control conditions 
without that instrumentality. Individual trustees would' not 
be trusted. If railroad stocks could not be held by banks as 
collateral, there would be no gambling. Wall Street transac- 
tions and the stocks would be held in the vaults of bona fide 
investors, who would vote for directors of practical business 
ability, not for Captain Kidds of Finance. Break up Insur- 



HOW TO CREATE A PANIC 11/ 

ance Companies into small companies under strict State super- 
vision and you will have honest insurance at a reasonable cost 
and the companies will have no need, nor the ability, to buy 
legislators. A Baron may become too powerful for the com- 
fort of the King. 

But such a radical change would disturb business! Well, 
what if it does? Don't the insurance companies disturb busi- 
ness and create a panic every time they want a new "yel- 
low dog," or a few more millions for their officers on the 
side? They make panics at will. But would there not be 
genuine prosperity instead of panic? What would be the re- 
sult of Wall Street getting converted to the Ten Command- 
ments? First, a lot of Wall Street banks would go out of 
business, and their cash would be loaned on mortgages in- 
stead of margins; real estate transactions would boom. Sec- 
ond, ten small and honest insurance companies would pay 
their presidents, practical insurance men, $5,000 each, instead 
of one gigantic company paying $50,000 to one who makes 
millions besides in "four ace" speculation. Railroad com- 
panies would squeeze the water out of their stock, investors 
would get the dividends and practical railroad men get sal- 
aries, prices would be lower, wages higher and the millen- 
nium at hand. 

The Remedy is Plain. 

The diagnosis of the disease is plain; it is "corruption 
through corporate wealth." The remedy is simple: old laws 
renewed, regulating the holding of corporate stocks by other 
corporations. The doctors are wise, devoted and patriotic. 
Will the people take the medicine? 

We are now in the midst of a "great" panic, i.e., a na- 
tional, not a Wall Street, panic, the causes of which are 
partly natural and partly artificial. The Steel Trust, having 
captured, at one-half its value, the Tennessee Coal and Iron, 



Il8 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

its only formidable rival, the "system" would now like re- 
newed good times so as to enjoy the $500,000,000 profits it 
has made out of the monetary situation. But the people have 
got the notion into their heads that many bankers are as big 
scamps as the insurance and railroad people, and it will take 
time to pull the wool over their eyes again and lead the inno- 
cent lambs back into the bear pit, where very soon they will 
again be gambling in Wall Street against stacked cards. 

Will the republic choose a Gracchus or a Caesar? Shall 
we employ a doctor or an undertaker? 



VIII. 

RUSSIA vs. JAPAN. 
a. — Fairplay to Russia. 
(Jackson^ Mich., Evening News, Aug. 29, 1904.) 

The writer's personal experiences in Japan have been de- 
lightful ; his acquaintance, during several years with many- 
Japanese of high rank, most cordial; his admiration for Japa- 
nese progress and self-confidence, unbounded, and all his 
prejudices and best wishes are with them ; nevertheless, in 
view of the fact that Japanese virtues are continually on 
parade, and their failings ignored; and in view of the further 
fact that the American press seems to be almost unanimous 
in their favor — apparently on the selfish ground that Japan 
is fighting our battles for an "open door," i.e., free trade in 
China, while we maintain protection at home — and persistently 
suppresses any presentation of the Russian side of the contro- 
versy, he has tried to analyze present conditions in the interest 
of fair play. 

Russia's friendship for America and France, the two great 
republics, has been marked, and of great value to each — espe- 
cially to the United States during the trying ordeal of 1861-65 
— yet she is an absolute despotism, and we cannot endorse or 
sympathize with much that she is alleged to have done — nota- 
bly her treatment of the Jews, and her laws against proselyt- 
ing among Orthodox Russians. 

Her vast domains in Asia have great areas that are largely 
worthless or unattractive, sparsely settled by eighteen millions 
of people, who are largely ignorant and semi-barbarous, and 
divided into the greatest variety of nationalities, languages, 
religions, and cranks — all of whom require a strong govern- 



120 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

ment. The city of Tiflis has people who speak seventy differ- 
ent languages, and believe in every system of philosophy ever 
invented. Much can be forgiven in Russia, in relation to her 
shortcomings, for her problems are complex and unique, and 
in very recent years she has shown marked improvements : 
Serfdom has been abolished, schools fostered and courts estab- 
lished along the line of new government railroads in the Cau- 
casus, Trans-Caspia and Siberia, where, ten years ago, was 
nothing but anarchy, with marauding bands of Tartar brigands 
making life uncertain and property valueless. Nowithstand- 
ing public sentiment to the contrary, the greatest civilizing 
nation of recent years is Russia. 

In view of the recent marvelous civilizing results that have 
attended her railroad building in uncivilized regions, we can 
afford to hear her side of the argument in this conflict, which 
is admittedly commercial and not sentimental. 

Next to a man's life, he will fight for his property ; so with 
nations. Man's greatest property interests are no longer real 
estate ; personal property is even more important. Formerly 
nations fought for territory, now they fight for markets. We 
are dealing with conditions, not theories. This is illustrated by 
England's occupation of Egypt. 

The Suez Canal was constructed under Turkish auspices 
by French engineers. England had opposed its construction, 
and did every thing possible to favor the continuance of traffic 
by way of the Cape of Good Hope. After steamboats had 
supplanted sailing craft as freight carriers and the canal 
had become a demonstrated success England secretly pur- 
chased a majority of its stock for about twenty millions of 
dollars, including five millions as a commission to Baron 
Rothschild. This purchase was made over night, and this 
large commission doubtless included the usual lobbying ex- 
penses necessary in all Turkish transactions. That stock is 
probably worth a hundred millions of dollars to-day, pays 
large dividends, and this transaction has been immensely 



RUSSIA VS. JAPAN. 121 

profitable. Others took the chances of promotion; England 
has reaped the profits of success. 

As soon as England had a monetary interest in the Suez 
canal, she occupied Egypt, temporarily, for the avowed pur- 
pose of protecting her investment. She did not come into 
Egypt under any treaty stipulation ; she was a bare-faced tres- 
passer, and was profuse in her promises of speedy evacua- 
tion. The fulfillment of those promises has been adjourned 
sine die. Egypt had an orderly government, and her people 
were contented. England sent no colonists to Egypt; her 
interests were purely commercial, but without doubt, her rule 
in Egypt has been beneficent, and no nation has gone to war 
with her on account of the broken pledges. 

About ten years ago, Russia started a gigantic enterprise 
in the construction of 4,000 miles of railroad across the great 
continent of Asia. Its cost has already been about $375,000,- 
000, compared with which, the expenditures of England in 
Egypt have been trifling. It is not, of itself, a profitable ven- 
ture, but it has been a great civilizer; time only can demon- 
strate its financial value. It passes along southern Siberia, 
which is blessed with rich soil, temperate climate, and a beau- 
tiful and diversified surface. Jutting up into southern Siberia, 
for 943 miles, is a part of Manchu-Tartary. It was necessary 
to cross this country with the new railroad in order to reach, 
by a short cut, the Russian port of Vladivostok, which port 
is closed by ice four months in the year. Manchuria is China 
beyond the walls, and was infested by hordes of wild Tartars 
who owed allegiance to nobody, and at least of all to the weak 
government of China. Most of Manchuria, it might be said, 
never had any government at all. Its population was sparse; 
property and life were insecure; the villages never knew at 
what moment a Tartar band would sweep down upon them, 
killing the men and carrying off the women and stock. An- 
archy prevailed ; generally speaking, there were no secure land 
titles and personal property belonged to the last robber. 



122 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

Indeed, China had practically no suzerainty over Manchuria; 
its sovereignty may have been de jure, it was not dc facto. 

Russia obtained an eighty years' concession for her railroad 
across Manchuria, with a further concession for a branch 
south to Port Arthur, which is a so-called ice-free port. It 
also obtained timber concessions along the Yalu River, between 
Korea and Manchuria. The entire length of the road in Man- 
churia is 1,558 miles, about as far as from New York to 
Omaha. 

Russia has spent many millions of dollars on the railroad 
through Alanchuria, and in the development of Port Arthur 
as a commercial terminal. She did this under a treaty with 
China, the only nominal sovereign. She not only lavished her 
treasure, but has furnished 1,000,000 Russian farmers as immi- 
grants along the line of the Siberian road, transporting them 
from Moscow — 4,000 miles — for about $5 each ; she has built up 
Harbin as a Russian city of 70,000 people in three years ; and 
has abolished the deportation of criminals to Siberia, confining 
them in prisons at home, where prisoners of different grades 
are kept separate. France still uses Guiana for the deporta- 
tion of criminals ; England used Australia until Australia 
became populous, when the custom changed. Russia used 
Siberia for the same purpose until the Siberian railroad 
brought population and orderly government, then the law was 
changed. Russia's modem prison system is a model. To 
abandon this railroad and these immigrants to the Manchurians 
for thirty days without military protection would be to invite 
destruction by the marauding bands of brigands who formerly 
held undisputed sway. Russia sent in troops to protect its 
own property ; has built railway stations and thriving villages, 
and Manchuria is to-day a civilized community with perfect 
protection to life and property, and its people buy millions of 
dollars' worth of American goods every year while ten years 
ago they bought practically nothing. Russian troops can- 
not be properly withdrawn until the new towns are large 



RUSSIA VS. JAPAN. 1 23 

enough to protect themselves and the railroad from maraud- 
ing natives. That date might easily be extended by the influ- 
ence of Japanese ''diplomats" in disguise in Manchuria. 

If we compare Russia's occupation of Manchuria with 
England's occupation of Egypt, we find the most striking dif- 
ferences. England purchased surreptitiously a profitable 
property, and, without invitation, immediately landed troops 
to protect its investment within the territory of a well organ- 
ized government. No one threatened the Suez canal; Eng- 
land's occupation of Egypt was a mere pretext for a guardian 
to seize from Turkey, his ward, what the ward was too weak 
to defend. Russia openly constructed a great civilizing railroad 
at enormous expense, under the solemn conditions of a treaty, 
and scattered troops along the line of her road to protect it 
from uncivilized peoples. The reign of each new occupant has 
been beneficent, but the results of England's occupancy are 
not to be compared with Russia's. 

It is useless to discuss Korea, for Japan only has an inter- 
est in that country; Russia has claimed none. 

So much for the commercial aspects of the problem. There 
is not a nation on earth that would not fight to protect its own 
under similar circumstances, especially against a neighbor that 
had never invested a dollar, or a life, in the disputed territory. 
Practically, Russia has redeemed northern Manchuria as a 
derelict. If Russia does not fight to the bitter end to protect 
Russians and their property in Manchuria, she should be de- 
spised by every brave people. 

Let us next consider the political aspects of the problem. This 
requires the consideration of the anomalous conditions exist- 
ing in China and Japan. 

China proper contains less than half the area of the United 
States, and about 400 millions of people ; that is, its population 
is about ten times as dense as ours. The so-called dependen- 
cies of China, that is, Manchu-Tartary, Mongol-Tartary, Jun- 
garia and East Turkestan, are more than twice as large as 



124 '^HE WOOLLY HORSE 

China proper, yet contain but about sixteen millions of peo- 
ple. China has 300 persons per square mile; Manchuria 
twenty. Northern Manchuria is intensely cold in winter, sterile 
and thinly peopled. The population is chiefly employed in 
herding. 

China is a huge, unhomogeneous corpus, ready to be dis- 
membered — without military spirit or patriotism — without love, 
not of country, but of her government, and without the knowl- 
edge — or inclination — for self defense. No one has any sym- 
pathy with the present Tartar government of China. The Chi- 
nese need a strong, honest government, and modern inven- 
tions, and the sooner China is divided up the better for her 
people and the world. The division should be either into sepa- 
rate governments — preferably along the lines of homogeneous 
languages — or by protectorates. Ten thousand well armed, 
well disciplined troops could overrun all China, in one tri- 
umphal journey, and be met everywhere with indifference. If 
they should carry the Chinese flag, the people would not rec- 
ognize it, but would think it the private flag of the Com- 
mander. In A. D. 1644, the northern tribes — Manchus or Tar- 
tars — overran China, turned out the "Bright" dynasty and 
established the "Great Pure" dynasty, which imposed the pig- 
tail upon the Chinese as a sign of subjugation. Every descend- 
ant of those invaders receives a pension of rice to this day, 
and, generally speaking, is a soldier, supporting the hated 
dynasty. For centuries the Chinese have bought safety ; their 
aristocracy have been merchants, and soldiers have been hated 
and despised ; as a result, the military spirit has been dead for 
centuries. The Chinese people, as a whole, take no interest 
in government or politics, and could not be induced to fight 
anybody. 

The Japanese, on the other hand, are a nation of fighters. 
For centuries the aristocracy were the feudal Daimyos or 
barons, and their retainers ; merchants were despised ; only 
fighting was honorable ; and they were always at it. With the 



RUSSIA VS. JAPAN. 12$ 

Restoration in 1868, the Samurai, or military retainers of the 
Daimyos were out of a job. The Daimyos dulled their fighting 
edge in the cares of government. The Samurai joined the 
army, but the routine of peace was irksome. Jingoism in 
Japan is supreme. Holidays are numerous, and every holiday 
sees the display of millions of flags, especially the war flag. 
War is as much in the air in Japan as at Donnybrook fair. 
They are looking for trouble, and, of course, they find it. 

Conditions in both China and Japan are unique. The Japa- 
nese Government is honest ; the people are dishonest ; the Chi- 
nese Government is dishonest; the people are honest; Chinese 
merchants meet their contract obligations ; the Japanese mer- 
chants meet theirs, if profitable. This condition is anomalous, 
but can be readily explained. In less than forty years the 
Japanese have come out of densest feudalism. They have 
advanced as far in civilization in forty years as our ancestors 
did in 400, but they have copied, while we created. During 
the 300 years of Shogun rule — a government by generals — 
the people were divided into four castes : ( i ) the Samurai or 
military class; (2) the land holders or small farmers; (3) 
common laborers, and (4) lowest and despised by everybody, 
the merchant class. The Samurai, always poor, plundered 
the merchants, and the merchants, never allowed to get very 
rich, cheated the Samurai. There was absolutely no mutual 
confidence, no commercial integrity. Nobody appreciates this 
more than the Japanese themselves, and the one encouraging 
feature is the fact that they are striving to overcome this na- 
tional weakness. The Japanese colleges have courses of lec- 
tures devoted to commercial integrity, and, with the increased 
wealth and social prestige of the merchant classes, conditions 
are steadily improving. Think of American colleges having 
a course of lectures on commercial integrity — having to teach 
the students that they ought not to cheat and, having made a 
contract, they ought to keep it. These facts account for the 
anomalous conditions : — ^Japan with an honest government and 



126 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

a discredited people ; China with an honest people and a dis- 
credited and hated government. 

The new Japanese government is really a bureaucracy of 
the old feudal chiefs. It is chivalrous, strictly honest, and 
progressive. 

Both physically and mentally, the Chinese are a superior 
people, and if they be seized with a spirit of modern progress 
and military enthusiasm for a government of their own, to 
which they could look with affection and pride, they would 
rank among the greatest people on earth. With their present 
peaceful inclinations, under a congenial, strong and honest gov- 
ernment that would protect life and property, and develop their 
resources, they would soon rank among the most useful peo- 
ple on earth. 

Nineteen-twentieths of the people of Turkey hate the Turk, 
but the one-twentieth only are permitted to bear arms, and 
the jealousies of Europe maintain this cruel despotism, with its 
frequent massacres, and prevent the dismemberment of Tur- 
key. Nintey-nine-one-hundredths of the people of China hate 
the Tartar, but the commercial jealousies of Europe, through 
what they call the "open door," maintain the cruel despotism 
of this Tartar dynasty, and prevent the rehabilitation of China. 
Is it not time that the justice of Europe should consider the 
i9-20ths of Turkey and the 99-iooths of China? 

Ten years ago, Japan, having had grafted upon the old, 
virile. Samurai stock, the military accomplishments of modern 
civilization, had one of the best equipped military establish- 
ments of any nation of her size. Her people had physical en- 
durance, marvelous patriotism, military training and the most 
modern equipments. She knew perfectly well that the Chi- 
nese would not fight anybody, and Japan did not even take the 
trouble to pick a quarrel ; she merely occupied Korea, and 
then invaded China. 

"In the summer of 1894, the Japanese Government sud- 
denly and silently dispatched to the mainland of Asia a large 



RUSSIA VS. JAPAN. 12/ 

body of troops, who occupied Korea and seized the persons of 
the King and royal family, 'with the object' — so it was officially 
stated — 'of maintaining Korean independence,' thence proceed- 
ing to make war on China, "in order to establish the peace 
of the Orient.' ( ?) The quaint humor of these alleged reasons 
might provoke amusement, were the subject a less tragic one 
than the infliction of measureless misery, pain, and desolation 
on unoffending neighbors. * * * The war grew naturally 
out of the condition of Japan herself at that particular junc- 
ture. Perpetual dissensions between the Diet and the execu- 
tive, were fast putting the working of the new constitution out 
of gear, — straining it in fact to breaking point. Meanwhile 
the admirably trained army, like a racer panting for its trial 
of speed had long been impatient for a fight with someone, 
somewhere, anywhere." ("Things Japanese," Chamberlain, 
1898, p. 216.) 

Not being satisfied with "maintaining Korean independ- 
ence" by occupying her capital, the Japanese ambassador 
assassinated the Korean queen and the country then became 
"independent" until the close of the war, when Japan 
claimed it. 

No one has ever called this Chinese-Japanese fiasco war ; it 
was merely a military promenade. The only trouble was that 
the Japanese could not "promenade" fast enough to catch 
up with the Chinese. It was a pure war of aggression, with- 
out even the pretext of an excuse, and Japan claimed, not 
only a large indemnity, but all Manchuria and Korea. Rus- 
sia, Germany and France stepped in "to preserve the integrity 
of China," and Japan was required to be contented with her 
indemnity (which paid her well) and Formosa. The interfer- 
ing powers — also England and the United States — naturally 
began to ask for and receive "leases" and concessions in pay- 
ment for — well, for saving the "face" of the ruling dynasty. 

Why does Japan now seek to undo the results of the Chi- 
nese war? Has Russia received a giant's share? That is, 



128 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

at least, doubtful. But she has earned a giant's share. She 
has converted the anarchic desert of Manchuria into an orderly 
garden by the expenditure of gigantic energies in money and 
men. Is Russia to be begrudged one little ice-free port in the 
whole wide world ? In Asia, Portugal has Macao ; England, 
Wei-hai-wei, and the island of Hong Kong and Kow-loon on 
the mainland, making one of the greatest seaports of the 
world ; France has the whole province of Tong-King ; Japan 
has Formosa ; Germany has a "lease" for ninety-nine years 
of Kiao-Chou Bay. This lease, by the way, reads wonderfully 
like a deed giving full sovereignty. Russia has a lease for 25 
years of Port Arthur, and the Liao-tung Peninsula and an 
eighty-year concession for the railroad across Manchuria. 
But where has the United States come in? Don't think for 
a moment that the United States "got left;" we are not so 
innocent in matters of international "graft." Our government 
would not, of course claim a concession for itself, but we 
notice that an American Company of favored sons got the 
most valuable gift of them all — a 900-mile railroad concession 
(with mining and other privileges) from Hankow, the "Chi- 
cago of China," to Canton. It is a choice tid-bit and gives us a 
"sphere of influence" over the richest one-quarter of China. 
In the final scramble for the pieces, the United States will be 
in possession of the keystone of the Chinese arch. There is 
not a promoter on earth who would trade off that Hankow 
concession for a dozen concessions among the Tartars of Man- 
churia. England has, too, an indefinite "sphere of influence" 
that takes in the Yangtse-Kiang valley, the richest half of 
China. 

Doubtless Japan feels humiliated that she should have 
been deprived of the fruits of conquest, but her humiliation is 
only that of a burglar who has been despoiled of his loot by a 
policeman. It is hardly fair to say that Russia and Japan arc 
two dogs quarreling over bones which belong to neither. By 
the right of modern diplomacy, which has been acquiesced in 



RUSSIA VS. JAPAN. I29 

in Egypt, Russia's legal and moral lien on Manchuria is 
perfect. 

Russian critics point to 300 years of incessant aggression, 
constantly extending her territory in every direction where 
opportunity offered. It will be remembered, however, that 
much of the territory is sparsely inhabited, and very few na- 
tions of the world would have taken it as a gift, and that, after 
all these centuries of so-called aggression, Russia has never 
been able to get an open port on any sea. Every port in the Baltic 
is frozen up in winter. The Black Sea is a Russian lake, be- 
cause the powers prevent her use of the Dardanelles. Eng- 
land is terrified at the idea of the great Russian Empire having 
one little port in China, although England has a magnificent 
port that she has simply seized in years past, without any pre- 
tense of right, and has thousands of ports on all the seas of 
the world, and millions of square miles scattered over every 
continent. 

The real objection to Russia's attitude seems to be the 
fact of her protective tariff. To be sure, there were prac- 
tically no imports into Manchuria before the Russian occupa- 
tion; then the Standard oil went in; now it is being sup- 
planted by Russian oil. Have Americans, outside of Mr. 
Rockefeller, a right to complain? Plain Americans may get 
their oil cheaper, if it is kept at home. 

England has certainly no right to complain of Russian ag- 
gressions in the light of recent Egyptian history. Protected 
America has no right to complain of protected Russia. Eng- 
land protected her industries until they became able to supply 
the home market and the world besides; then she declared 
for free trade. Now she seems again to tend toward protec- 
tion under the leadership of her most prominent statesman, Mr. 
Joseph Chamberlain. America has protected her infant indus- 
tries until they are now the terror of commercial Europe. Her 
private fortunes are the greatest ever known in history, and 



130 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

the fundamental reasons for protecting certain industries no 
longer exist. 

England let down her tariff bars when her infants were 
full grown. The United States still feeds her giant indus- 
trial babies on Mellin's food for infants, and pats Japan on 
the back, saying "Go in, young man, force open the door of 
Manchuria while we keep ours locked in Colorado and the 
Philippines." 

The hostility to Russian aggression will probably be found 
in the nightmare of the future, when Russia shall have one very 
indifferent ice-free port at Port Arthur, which shall become the 
commercial center of Siberia, and its enterprise shall rival 
Hong Kong and Tokyo and get its share of the trade of the 
Orient. Should we not be equitable and allow her a fair show 
in the markets of the world? 



b. — How America Paid the Indemnity. 

(Brooklyn Eagle, October i, 1905.) 

"What fools these mortals be." How the American peo- 
ple do like to be fooled. We are willing to exchange our 
birthright, not for a mess of pottage, but for a few laudatory 
cablegrams. Under the thin guise of flattery we have been 
cheated out of our Oriental prestige without the people know- 
ing, apparently, what tremendous events have transpired. One 
moment we are puffed out with pride as imperialists, bent on 
conquering the world ; the next we are the great pacificators, 
shouting ourselves hoarse over a treaty that annihilates our 
boasted imperialism and the rainbow of Oriental trade. Three 
important ard cognate events are announced : The treaty of 
peace, the new treaty between England and Japan, and, most 
far reaching of all, determining the destinies of 100,000,000 of 
people, the transfer of the American concession in China to 
Japan, thus insuring Japanese supremacy in the Orient. 



RUSSIA VS. JAPAN. I3I 

Simultaneously with the signing of the Treaty of Ports- 
mouth, announced with such flamboyant glee, we permit China 
(now synonymous with Japan) to bully us into giving up the 
Hankow concession, and literally kick us out of Asia, while 
we do not so much as dare to resist, as other nations would 
have done, even to the point of war, or as we would have done 
a year ago, before Mr. Hay died, before Japan became the 
dictator of the destiny of Oriental races. 

Russia fought a bloody war to protect a railroad concession 
of trifling value. We have given up, without a struggle, a con- 
cession (carrying practical ownership of the country) worth 
a thousand Manchurias. America practically pays Russia's 
indemnity — not at Russia's but at Japan's request. Russia 
saves millions ; America gives up billions. And what do we 
get in return? A bushel of telegrams telling what a wonder- 
ful man our President is! Every telegram cost $1,000,000. 

The Peking Government is a mere name without sub- 
stance. It has no strength, either in armies or in the aflfec- 
tion of its people. A few thousand well disciplined, well 
equipped American soldiers could overrun all China. 

The Japanese Government of the Samurai or military class 
is wise, vigorous and progressive ; the Japanese people, es- 
pecially the merchants, are dishonest and untrustworthy. 

No Pretext for War With China. 

Japan's war with China, in 1895, was purely aggressive. 
It had not even a pretext. No foreign diplomat at Tokio saw 
any war cloud in the horizon at sunset, but a Japanese army 
landed at Seoul at sunrise. They struck without warning; 
struck a foe that they knew would not fight l:d,ck. Japan 
claimed all the conquered territory, but France, Germany and 
Russia stepped in. Japan had to be satisfied with Formosa 
and an indemnity. England had stood quietly by, when Japan 
was stripped of her plunder, but she was not an idle spectator 



132 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

when China was practically dismembered after this opera 
bouffe war. 

Why trifle with words when the facts are apparent? A 
kind of "gentlemen's agreement" was entered into between 
England, United States, Japan, Russia, Germany and France. 
The actual partition of China then took place under the thin 
guise of "leases" or "concessions," used merely to "save the 
face" of the impotent government at Peking. Almost simul- 
taneously (in 1898) Germany received a ninety-nine-year 
"lease" of Kiao-chow Bay ; France took the harbor and port 
of Kiang-chow-wau, near her province of Tong-king, as her 
share of the plunder; Russia received Manchuria, most of 
which was a derelict, never having had any settled government 
since the beginning of the world. England took Wei-hai-wei 
directly opposite Port Arthur, and "a promise that no terri- 
tory in the Yang-tze Valley should be alienated to any other 
power, thus obtaining a so-called sphere of influence over the 
richest half of the empire." For our share, the United States 
took the very tenderloin of Asia in the most valuable conces- 
sion ever granted by China or by any other country ; i.e., a 
concession for railroad, mines, etc., from Han-Kow, the Chi- 
cago of Asia, to Canton. 

William Barclay Parsons says, in "An American Engineer 
in China," at page 45 : "The concession covers about 900 miles 
of railway, together with mining and other privileges, which 
makes it in value and in national importance second to no other 
concession granted by the Chinese Government." 

These actual cessions of territory are called "leases" 
or "concessions," but they read suspiciously like deeds. Eng- 
land's "sphere of influence," which means ownership when 
England chooses to exercise it, takes in one-half of China 
proper; America's one-quarter has 100,000,000 of people. The 
American concession included not only the railroad franchise, 
but it included mining and other rights of fabulous value — 
everything in fact. It was far more sweeping than England's 



RUSSIA VS. JAPAN. 133 

rights in the Yang-tze Kiang. It was granted to an American 
company, organized under the laws of the United States, 
was negotiated through the Chinese ambassador at Washing- 
ton, and was signed with a great flouish of trumpets. Secre- 
tary Hay would never have given it up without the loss of a 
fleet and an army. Only about twenty-eight miles of that 
road have been built, but it has paid about lOO per cent, per 
annum on the investment. The Chinese spend their spare taels 
riding up and down on this road, packed on flat cars, worse 
even than Brooklynites are packed during rush hours on the 
Bridge. 

England's Shrewd Diplomacy. 

Next move: England uses Japan to pull English chest- 
nuts out of the fire, and break up the "gentlemen's agreement" 
that followed the Japanese-Chinese war. A treaty is entered 
into agreeing to come to the aid of Japan if attacked by two 
powers. This was really a secret compact that Japan should 
pick a quarrel with Russia and seize her new Asiatic posses- 
sions, including her ice-free port that threatened to rival the 
commercial supremacy of Hong Kong. By the way, why 
should not the vast empire of Russia be entitled to one ice-free 
port in this wide world? England has thousands. David was 
jealous of Uriah's one little ewe lamb. England knew that 
Japan could defeat Russia for at least one year, operating, as 
Russia must, 5,000 miles away from her military base, and 
this treaty would keep ofif Germany and her fleet and her ex- 
perienced sailors. England would furnish the money, for 
Japan was too poor to wage war. The results we know. 

While this fight was on, England sent an armed force into 
Tibet (which belongs to China just as much as does Man- 
churia) and forced a treaty — not with China, not even with 
the Grand Lama who had fled, but with some man of straw 
who was set up and recognized for the purpose. Such a treaty 



134 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

is, of course, a flimsy pretext, but it will be sufficient, and will 
be a far better excuse for holding Tibet than England now has 
for holding Egypt. When the English bulldog gets hold, he 
never lets go. 

Japan struck Russia practically unprepared. 

The cry about Russia's broken promises has been persist- 
ent, but wholly unfounded. Russia's treaty with China in 1902 
is not in form to justify the charge. 

As far as we can learn, the treaty stipulations between 
Russia and China were strictly carried out by Russia and 
largely disregarded by China. The treaty of March 26, 1902, 
provides : — 

"The Chinese Government * * * takes tipon itself the 
obligation to use all means to protect the raihvay and the per- 
sons in its employ, and binds itself also to secure within the 
boundaries of Manchuria the safety of all Russian subjects in 
general and the undertakings established by them. 

"The Russian Government, in view of these obligations ac- 
cepted by the Government of His Majesty the Emperor of 
China, agrees on its side, provided that no disturbance arise, 
and that the action of other Powers should not prevent it, to 
withdraw gradually all its forces from within the limits of 
Manchuria in the following manner: * * * 

"Art. 3. In view of the necessity of preventing in the 
future any recurrence of the disorders of last year, in which 
Chinese troops stationed on the Manchurian frontier also took 
part, the Imperial Russian and Chinese Governments shall 
undertake to instruct the Russian military authorities and the 
Tsiang-Tsungs, mutually to come to an agreement respecting 
the numbers and the disposition of the Chinese forces until the 
Russian forces shall have been withdrawn. At the same time 
the Chinese Government binds itself to organize no other force 
over and above those decided upon by the Russian military au- 
thorities and the Tsiang-Tsungs as sufficient to suppress 
brigandage and pacify the country." 



RUSSIA VS. JAPAN. 135 

China was helpless to protect the Russian railway and 
Russian subjects, even from its own troops stationed in Man- 
churia, and as to suppressing brigandage and pacifying the 
country, China never had done it, and apparently never could 
do it and did not try. If Russian troops had been withdrawn, 
as Japan demanded — just as if she were a party to the treaty — 
■there would not have been a Russian rail or a Russian subject 
left alive in Manchuria within thirty days. 

Moreover, this treaty was a matter between Russia and 
China. Of what business was it to Japan or America, neither 
of whom had spent a dollar or a life in Manchuria? Above 
all, what right had America to "demand" Russia's evacuation 
of Manchuria? Did we command England to evacuate Wei- 
hai-wei, or Germany to get out of Kiao-chow ? Russia was in 
Manchuria under a solemn treaty and had spent $375,000,000 
on a railroad that will not pay expenses for years to come, 
Japan had never spent one dollar in money either in the devel- 
opment of Manchuria or Korea. 

It is well known that Northern Manchuria has been a dere- 
lict — never had had any settled government until Russia went 
there, from the days of Adam to the days of the railroad ; an- 
archy prevailed ; generally speaking, there were no secure land 
titles, and every flock of sheep belonged to the last robber. 
China never had any actual civil or military control over the 
robber bands of Manchuria ; never pretended to have ; and had 
the Russian troops been withdrawn the Russian railroad would 
have disappeared in thirty days. 

What the Peace Means. 

Now comes the Peace. And at what a price ! Almost si- 
multaneously with the peace at Portsmouth is announced the 
new treaty, offensive and defensive, between England and 
Japan, and the relinquishing of America's concession to a Chi- 
nese so-called company. Japan gets the whole of civilized 



136 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

Manchuria — gets Port Arthur and Dahiy, but England does not 
give up the new concession of Wei-hai-wei, just across the 
bay, that was ceded to her for the express purpose of 
counterbalancing Russia's concession. Germany and France 
have not yet been asked to give up their interest in the "gen- 
tlemen's agreement." But their time will come soon. 

The treaty of Portsmouth means the actual partition of 
China between England and Japan only. Russia has been 
driven back into the fields of Northern Manchuria, a region 
that no other nation would take as a gift. Japan has a "sphere 
of influence" in Korea and Southern (or civilized) Manchuria. 
But that is not enough. She wants more. She now domi- 
nates Peking and wants to own China, and England is willing 
to give her ally everything not her own. The United States 
is "dead easy." Flatter America a little, and she will give up 
anything. Make her the great pacificator, the great persuader ; 
stir up a boycott ; have the Chinese government demand back 
her concession and give it to Japan, and it is done. 

Japan insisted on an indemnity ; Russia refused ; England 
suggested the Hankow concession instead ; just think of Ameri- 
ca's glory as a peacemaker; Japan jumps at the suggestion; 
America is generous, and gives up to Japan one-quarter of 
China, worth untold billions. No wonder that Japan waived 
an indemnity. She gets from America a territory worth a 
hundred times more than all of Asiatic Russia, and America 
never suspects that England has pulled the wire. 

English diplomacy is now complete ; France, Germany and 
Russia have received their morsels, but are practically shut 
out of China. At the first disturbance, English and Japanese 
fleets will pounce down upon their few remaining provinces, 
and, behold ! all of profitable China divided between England 
and Japan. 

The treaty of Portsmouth closes every door to American 
commerce. In the alleged "open door" we are chasing a rain- 
bow. Do we sell goods to India, and will we sell goods to 



RUSSIA VS. JAPAN. 137 

Manchuria or China? Cheap Japanese goods have already 
followed in the trail of the Japanese army. Japanese 
tooth powder, with an American label misspelled, sells 
for two-fifths of the price of the genuine article. Spindles 
in Japanese cotton factories are tended by girls and men 
working twelve or fourteen hours per day for from six 
to seventeen cents per day. Their product will control 
the Chinese and Manchurian markets — especially under 
Japanese "influence." Just now Japan must place some large 
initial orders in America. Her necessities require it. But in 
twelve months we will have no trade in Asia for anything 
except oil. The Philippines will continue to be an expensive 
nuisance, valuable only as a coaling station, which, on the 
first pretext for trouble, will be taken in by an English and 
Japanese fleet combined under the terms of the new treaty. 
England and Japan are to-day the owners of Asia. They can 
reach out their hands and take it all in at any moment. Its 
wealth, under their development, will be marvelous. Chinese 
soldiers under English and Japanese officers will hold Asia 
against the world, and English and Japanese merchants, ex- 
ploiting the region of our American concession, will be the 
envy of American Rockefellers, and their influence will domi- 
nate the Orient. Japan dominates Peking to-day as absolutely 
as she does Seoul. America has nothing left to exploit but her 
sister republics in South America. 

What Might Have Been. 

The peace of Portsmouth has turned back the hands of 
time on the dial of European liberty for a century. When 
Hannibal was at the gates of Rome, all was lost save hope, and 
Rome's favorite general, Fabius, merely maneuvered for 
years, wearing out Hannibal with marches. Russia could have 
maneuvered for twelve months longer in Manchuria; Japan 
would have been bankrupt and exhausted, and England tired 



138 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

of making loans. Russia would, by that time, have had to 
adjust her internal troubles satisfactorily to the people. Now 
the rest of the world must forget internal trouble and join 
hands against this new colossus or go to the wall. 

Mark this prophecy for a generation hence : The area of 
the Hankow concession will have become one of the richest and 
most powerful provinces on earth ; American goods shut out 
of Europe by hostile tariffs; shut out of Asia by cheap Japa- 
nese goods and "spheres of influence" ; America's sphere of 
influence confined to the western continent ; a commercial 
panic, followed by a coalition between United States, Russia, 
Germany and France, and a gigantic struggle between Europe 
and America on one side and Asia and Asia's master on the 
other. England's diplomacy is to-day the shrewdest on earth ; 
America's the most naive. In the future, look out for sparks. 



IX. 

"OUR FLAG." 
(Home for Consumptives, Brooklyn, May 22, 1904.) 

It is highly appropriate that the birth of an American flag 
should be celebrated with religious services. It is also appro- 
priate that such a flag, consecrated to so beautiful a charity as 
the Home for Consumptives, should be dedicated in these 
beautiful surroundings and on this beautiful Sabbath Day. 
Under our form of government, religion and politics move on 
parallel lines that are said never to intersect, but these paral- 
lels are so close together that their influence on each other 
is marked, and we rejoice in the name of being a religious 
nation. No man can be a good citizen of a repubhc unless he 
is a good man, and he who undermines the religious beliefs 
of a free people is a traitor, for no republic can permanently 
exist unless the people be moral. Had the Sermon on the 
Mount never been uttered, it is safe to say that we would 
never have had this free government "of the people, by the 
people, for the people." It is certainly safe to say that but for 
the love and words of Him who died on Calvary, there would 
be no hospital like this, devoted to soothing the last years of 
those who can help neither others nor themselves. 

In full appreciation of the fact that the American flag rep- 
resents all that is best in government; that it represents both 
our nation and the God whom we serve, and the principles of 
love that have made such institutions possible, these patients 
have contributed from their scanty means to provide a new 
flag for Memorial Day. 

The banners or ensigns of all the nations of antiquity repre- 
sented in one way or another, the god or gods that they wor- 
shipped. The brazen serpent that Pharaoh erected upon the 
lighthouse of Pihahiroth to check the passage of the Israel- 
ites at the Red Sea, was worshiped by the Egyptians; and 



I40 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

when Moses conquered the Amelekites, he set up an altar on 
which was inscribed "Jehovah nissi," "The Lord is our ban- 
ner." Each tribe of Israel had its ensign, with its distinctive 
symbol and color; the best know of- these is the "Lion of the 
tribe of Judah." 

When the Emperor Constantine was converted to Chris- 
tianity, the Roman eagle and "Scnatus Populusque Romanum" 
gave way to the sign of the cross and its motto "In hoc signo 
vinces." At the time of the crusades, the Pope gave to each 
nation a different cross for its symbol — to England the cross 
of St. George ; to Scotland the cross of St. Andrew ; to Ireland 
the cross of St. Patrick. On the union of England and Scot- 
land in 1706 their two crosses were united, and when, in 1801, 
Ireland became part of Great Britain, the cross of St. Patrick 
was joined with those of St. George and St. Andrew in the 
British flag as we see it to-day. 

In the early days of the revolution, a variety of American 
flags were used. One of these was the yellow flag of Admiral 
Hopkins, having as a center-piece a black rattlesnake, coiled and 
ready to strike and the motto, "Don't tread on me." Benjamin 
Franklin was much pleased with this symbol and wrote a beau- 
tiful and curious letter, advocating as our national symbol the 
appropriateness of the rattlesnake, which was never aggres- 
sive, always remained on the defensive, never struck without 
warning, but when it did strike, struck to kill. But the eagle 
finally triumphed over the serpent. 

Up to 1777, the Revolutionary flag in most general use 
was the Union flag of England, with thirteen stripes added ; 
but it was soon found that British men-of-war too readily 
sewed stripes of red and white canvas upon their own flags, 
and thus decoyed American vessels into their power ; so 
that on June 14, 1777, Congress "Resolved that the flag of 
"the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red 
"and white ; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue 
"field, representing a new constellation." 



OUR FLAG 141 

The drawing of this new flag found in the State Depart- 
ment shows the stars arranged in a circle, but the soldiers in 
the field, true to their old traditions, so arranged the thirteen 
stars as to preserve on their new banner, the old crosses of St. 
George and St. Andrew. But God has blessed beyond meas- 
ure this "new constellation" in the firmament of freedom, and 
the double cross of thirteen has grown into a solid phalanx 
of forty-five fixed stars ; the new constellation has become the 
most brilliant in the heavens and the guide for political mari- 
ners of all nations. It takes no prophet to foretell that in the 
near-by future, that constellation shall have guided every na- 
tion in the world to the safe harbor of freedom, where kings 
and aristocracies shall exist only as a faint memory, and where 
governments of the people, by the people, and for the people 
shall possess the world in peace. 

We are naturally proud of our flag — proud of its pre-emi- 
nent beauty among the emblems of the world. It is beautiful 
in the happy mingling of its colors, the red, white and blue ; 
beautiful in the proud thoughts suggested by those stripes, the 
thirteen infant colonies, those stars, the forty-five stalwart 
States; beautiful in the thoughts that cluster about its his- 
tory, from the struggles and triumphs of our forefathers, whose 
patriotism laid so firm a foundation for this magnificent palace 
of liberty, to the struggles and triumphs of these veteran heroes 
who redeemed that palace from the disgrace of national crime 
and saved it from ruin in the day of threatened national dis- 
aster. 

It is, indeed, a beautiful flag in the eyes of you veterans 
who have shed your blood and devoted years of toil and hard- 
ship to maintain its honor, and who love it more for the price- 
less sacrifices it has cost ; and it is beautiful in the eyes of your 
children, who, seeing your wounds and appreciating your ser- 
vice, now swear in the presence of God, their country's flag, 
their country's defenders, to sustain the heritage we have 
received at such generous hands. 



142 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

How beautiful that flag is as it now floats out on this beau- 
tiful Lord's day, over these patients whose savings have re- 
placed the national emblem that has been worn out in the 
breezes of heaven ! 

How beautiful that flag has seemed to me, floating from a 
gondola in Venice, from the summit of the Pyramids, from 
St. Paul's, St. Peters, and many mountain peaks of Europe. 
Enthusiastic American tourists seldom forget to carry with 
them their star-spangled banner. How beautiful it is, proudly 
floating from that magnificent dome at Washington, from the 
flagstafifs of our frontier forts, the mountain heights of our 
signal stations, or at the mast heads of our frigates at sea; 
and how beautiful it was to some of you, veterans of 1861, 
amidst the sulphurous smoke of battle; how your hearts 
thrilled as that flag was revealed in the breaks in the clouds 
of smoke that concealed all from view but the flash of your 
shotted canon ! 

But these stars and stripes are not the symbol of war. Its 
grandest victories are the triumphs of peace. For one hun- 
dred years it has led and protected the advancing columns that 
have swept across the continent, not urged on to conquest by 
martial strains of fife and drum, but by hymns of praise to 
God. Wherever that flag has been floated to the breeze, there 
liberty and progress have planted a school and a church. There 
its mantle has protected the weak, fed the hungry, clothed the 
naked and sheltered the homeless. It very appropriately floats 
over this beautiful charity that shelters the hopelessly con- 
sumptive. 

We do not forget, however, that this flag was not always 
the emblem of freedom. We learn from history that for years 
it floated over a race of slaves, when our boasted freedom was 
a reproach to our honor ; that for years after the conscience of 
the civilized world had branded slavery as a crime and the 
slave trade as piracy, we tenderly nursed this viper in our 
breast and received with brazen face the taunts of an outraged 



OUR FLAG 143 

world. We do not forget, among- other things, the Seminole 
War, undertaken professedly to exterminate a few savages, but 
really that the Government of the United States might 
recapture runaway slaves; and "we the people" actually 
bought bloodhounds from Cuba to hunt down our fellow men ; 
and our soldiers followed at the heels of those hounds ! our 
stars and stripes floated proudly, I presume, in such noble war- 
fare! Fife and drum sounded patriotically "My country, 'tis 
of thee," while the baying of the hounds, madde'ned by the 
smell of blood, chanted the response, "Sweet Land of Liberty" ; 
and " we, the people," paid for those hounds, notwithstanding 
the fact that the laws of civilized nations forbids such meth- 
ods of warfare. 

Let us draw the veil over these dark pages of our history. 
They but serve to emphasize the unselfish patriotism of those 
who deliberately laid down their lives to save the country 
from itself. "He that ruleth his spirit" is better "than he that 
taketh a city." What a man knows, makes him strong, and 
what he loves makes him noble. This is true of nations. The 
greatest man is the grandest character ; the grandest character 
is he who conquers himself and makes his rules of life con- 
form most nearly to the Sermon on the Mount. The grand- 
est nation is that which purifies itself until its statutes conform 
to the statutes of God. Wars for freedom are grand, but wars 
for self-purification are grander. 

We were first taught that heroes belonged to past ages and 
distant lands. The handful of Greeks that beat back the Per- 
sian invaders at Marathon and Thermopylae and saved the 
world from Oriental barbarism, were heroes, and how we 
honor them ! The handful of Swiss who defended their 
homes at Morgarten were heroes, and how we honor them ! 
The French veterans who followed the fortunes of the Little 
Corporal from the Bridge of Lodi to Waterloo, and, by rea- 
son of their matchless discipline, trampled the nations of Eu- 
rope under foot in the name of La Belle France, we call pa- 



144 THE WOOLLY HORSE 

triots, and honor them as heroes. Our forefathers, who fought 
and starved and froze at Bunker Hill and Valley Forge have 
no flaw in their title. Their exalted place in history is fixed. 
But it was left to our own generation to produce the grandest 
heroes of them all. History will place the names of our own 
fathers high on the tablets of fame above the most famous 
names in ancient or modem story. Patriotism is not dead, it 
is not a thing of the past, it still lives. The popular uprising 
in 1861 has no counterpart in history; it was unparalleled in 
numbers, unapproached in enthusiasm, unequalled in stern 
determination to sacrifice everything to preserve their coun- 
try and its honor. The nearest approach to it in any age or 
nation was the popular German uprising of 1871. 

Alexander fought for conquest, Hannibal for hate, Wash- 
ington for the liberty of his own people, but Grant fought for 
the liberty of a down-trodden stranger, and that is noblest 
of all. Our forefathers fought against oppression ; they fought 
for their homes and firesides ; they were driven to desperation, 
and they fought like tigers for freedom and material pros- 
perity ; but you, Grand Army Men, fought for principle, 
to preserve a nation and free the slave. Your homes were 
not threatened. Your hearthstones were not invaded. You, 
by simple inaction, could have let your erring brothers go. 
You had left still a glorious country, a congenial, free people 
of whom you could justly be proud ; proud of them all, from 
the storm-beaten rocks of Massachusetts Bay to the cloudless 
slopes of the Pacific Ocean. Yet for principle's sake, through 
unselfish patriotism and love of freedom, you shed your blood 
for a country's honor, and that a down-trodden race might 
be free ; that strangers and unborn millions might enjoy the 
privileges you so fondly cherished. And I have no words to 
express my admiration for patriotism so unselfish, for devotion 
to principle so rare and unequaled. 

We do not wonder that these patients wish a new flag 
to celebrate the day which commemorates the only great, un- 



OUR FLAG 145 

selfish war in history. They appreciate that this beautiful em- 
blem was washed clean of sin in the blood of our hero fathers, 
and they wish me to express their gratitude and thanks. They 
marvel at the valor of the unselfish patriots of 1861, 
and read the story of their lives with the same wonder, 
and draw therefrom the same lessons in patriotism, 
taught by the stories of Thermopylae and Bunker Hill. 
They are proud of you veterans and of our flag: — 
That flag that hung in sorrow over those hungry, freez- 
ing patriots at Valley Forge ; that floated out in tri- 
umph at Yorktown ; that flag that proudly flapped the breezes 
on Lake Erie and at Lundy's Lane ; that still waved mid fire 
and smoke at Polo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, and whose 
red, white and blue reflected the rays of a tropical sun, 
proudly floating over the palace of the Montezumas at the 
City of Mexico; that flag that hung in sorrow and in shame 
over fallen Sumpter, till star blushed to stripe and stripe re- 
flected back the pain and sorrow of a nation ; that old, battle- 
worn, bullet-torn flag that flapped its tattered stripes o'er fal- 
len Richmond until the shouts of victory were re-echoed from 
Alleghany peak to Sierra crags, until lost in the hymns of 
praise from the dear ones at home, chanting thanksgivings to 
God that our star spangled banner at last floated over a free 
and united people. 

These helpless patients, these devoted women, even these 
strong men, may never be permitted to share the honors of our 
fathers in war, but we can show our appreciation of their 
heroism by preserving our national honor, cherishing our flag 
and keeping clean that emblem that was washed in their blood ; 
and we trust that General Sherman's prophecy may prove true 
that that flag "will go down another century, not a star oblit- 
erated, not a stripe dimmed, and that it will continue for the 
future, as it has in the past, to be the emblem of liberty and 
law, of charity and good will to man on earth." 



OUR FLAG 145 

selfish war in history. They appreciate that this beautiful em- 
blem was washed clean of sin in the blood of our hero fathers, 
and they wish me to express their gratitude and thanks. They 
marvel at the valor of the unselfish patriots of 1861, 
and read the story of their lives with the same wonder, 
and draw therefrom the same lessons in patriotism, 
taught by the stories of Thermopylae and Bunker Hill. 
They are proud of you veterans and of our flag: — 
That flag that hung in sorrow over those hungry, freez- 
ing patriots at Valley Forge; that floated out in tri- 
umph at Yorktown ; that flag that proudly flapped the breezes 
on Lake Erie and at Lundy's Lane ; that still waved mid fire 
and smoke at Polo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, and whose 
red, white and blue reflected the rays of a tropical sun, 
proudly floating over the palace of the Montezumas at the 
City of Mexico ; that flag that hung in sorrow and in shame 
over fallen Sumpter, till star blushed to stripe and stripe re- 
flected back the pain and sorrow of a nation ; that old, battle- 
worn, bullet-torn flag that flapped its tattered stripes o'er fal- 
len Richmond until the shouts of victory were re-echoed from 
Alleghany peak to Sierra crags, until lost in the hymns of 
praise from the dear ones at home, chanting thanksgivings to 
God that our star spangled banner at last floated over a free 
and united people. 

These helpless patients, these devoted women, even these 
strong men, may never be permitted to share the honors of our 
fathers in war, but we can show our appreciation of their 
heroism by preserving our national honor, cherishing our flag 
and keeping clean that emblem that was washed in their blood ; 
and we trust that General Sherman's prophecy may prove true 
that that flag "will go down another century, not a star oblit- 
erated, not a stripe dimmed, and that it will continue for the 
future, as it has in the past, to be the emblem of liberty and 
law, of charity and good will to man on earth." 











The 
Woolly Horse 






ALEXANDER S. BACON 





Li: N 'i3 



